Sanders Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Sanders Capital LLC cut its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,590,519 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,234,218 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $260,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SLB. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SLB by 100.0% during the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after buying an additional 40,415 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC grew its position in shares of SLB by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 248,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,526,000 after buying an additional 22,706 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in SLB by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 210,056 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after purchasing an additional 25,417 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of SLB by 4.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,157,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,354,000 after buying an additional 100,918 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 1,937.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 948,015 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 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 $3,032,544.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 155,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,730,735.60. The trade was a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $44.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.68. SLB Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $52.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. Analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm 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 an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SLB. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Freedom Capital downgraded SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of SLB from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.16.

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.