South Dakota Investment Council Buys 33,438 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

South Dakota Investment Council boosted its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 6.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 570,203 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,438 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in SLB were worth $19,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 23.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in SLB during the second quarter valued at $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in SLB by 30.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $683,901,000 after acquiring an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in SLB by 80.7% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,466,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of SLB by 346.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,876,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $133,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $51.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.67. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.11 and a 52 week high of $52.45.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results 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. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. This represents a 37.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at $6,987,919.40. This trade represents a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $47.60 to $52.30 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.38.

SLB Company 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.