SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) Short Interest Up 16.0% in February

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 63,175,478 shares, a growth of 16.0% from the February 12th total of 54,457,251 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 14,730,425 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Based on an average daily volume of 14,730,425 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE SLB traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $46.22. 3,841,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,188,793. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.53. SLB has a 1 year low of $31.11 and a 1 year high of $52.45. The company has a market cap of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.68.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.SLB’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. On average, analysts predict that SLB will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s payout ratio is 49.79%.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,113,627.90. This represents a 37.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total value of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,092,801.50. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SLB

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in SLB by 180.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,393,578 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $53,486,000 after acquiring an additional 895,987 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in SLB by 97.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 14,991 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 7,412 shares during the period. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLB in the fourth quarter valued at about $254,000. Mengis Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of SLB by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 90,211 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after acquiring an additional 6,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at about $205,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Evercore set a $54.00 price target on shares of SLB and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Three 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.16.

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.