Americana Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Americana Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 123,852 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,748,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SLB. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,607,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,696,000 after acquiring an additional 915,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the third quarter worth $37,322,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In related news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at $1,245,799.89. This trade represents a 15.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total value of $5,427,346.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 in the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Griffin Securities lowered Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SLB stock opened at $41.75 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.01. Schlumberger Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51. 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 (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. 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.