14,830 Shares in SLB Limited $SLB Acquired by Royal Fund Management LLC

Royal Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $569,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in SLB by 100.0% in 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 lifted its holdings in SLB by 10.1% during 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 boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 25,417 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of SLB by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,157,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,354,000 after acquiring an additional 100,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 1,937.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 948,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of SLB stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $659,419.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. This trade represents a 29.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SLB Stock Down 0.3%

SLB opened at $51.38 on Wednesday. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $54.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. Analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. 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 2.3%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SLB shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. 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 target on shares of SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLB 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.