Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $11.72 Million Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 305,744 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 7,771 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $11,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $500,082,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Schlumberger by 20.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $470,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new position in Schlumberger in the 4th quarter worth about $52,607,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,322,000. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,481,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total transaction of $2,486,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 210,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,202.88. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 263,782 shares of company stock valued at $11,442,229 in the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $40.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.25 and its 200-day moving average is $42.35. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $36.52 and a 52-week high of $55.69. The company has a market cap of $56.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 35.37%.

Schlumberger Company Profile

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.