Synovus Financial Corp Sells 15,905 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Synovus Financial Corp lessened its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,763 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 15,905 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in SLB were worth $3,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in SLB by 23.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,371,335,000 after buying an additional 35,057,313 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $683,901,000 after acquiring an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of SLB during the 2nd quarter valued at about $618,697,000. Amundi increased its stake in SLB by 29.9% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 11,415,740 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $409,939,000 after acquiring an additional 2,624,679 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in SLB by 1.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,681,754 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $327,243,000 after acquiring an additional 114,190 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SLB shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $48.00 target price on SLB in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on SLB from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Finally, Evercore set a $54.00 price objective on SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $3,032,544.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,730,735.60. This represents a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 162,402 shares of company stock worth $7,993,676. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE SLB opened at $50.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.81. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $52.40. The firm has a market cap of $75.99 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

SLB Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.