SCP Investment LP Sells 6,000 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

SCP Investment LP decreased its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the quarter. Schlumberger makes up 1.3% of SCP Investment LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. SCP Investment LP’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $1,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at $735,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 196.9% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,312,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $88,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533,366 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,529,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,186 shares during the period. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new position in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,607,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SLB. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, insider Gavin Rennick sold 26,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.92, for a total value of $1,104,430.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 53,584 shares in the company, valued at $2,192,657.28. This trade represents a 33.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 290,772 shares of company stock worth $12,546,660 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Schlumberger stock opened at $41.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.46. The company has a market capitalization of $56.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.65.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

About Schlumberger

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.