Truist Financial Corp Purchases 13,753 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 182,865 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,753 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $7,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SLB. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after acquiring an additional 528,279 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during 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 period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 20.6% during 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 worth $470,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,851 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $310,696,000 after acquiring an additional 915,925 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Schlumberger Price Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $41.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.51. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $36.52 and a 52-week high of $55.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.20 and a 200 day moving average of $41.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45.

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

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger 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.