Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Sells 1,237,011 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 91.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 115,462 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,237,011 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $3,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in SLB by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after buying an additional 40,415 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 22,706 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in SLB by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 210,056 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 25,417 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of SLB by 4.9% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of SLB by 1,937.4% in the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 948,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total value of $201,160.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,525 shares in the company, valued at $981,912.25. This trade represents a 17.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB stock opened at $48.10 on Wednesday. SLB Limited has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $52.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.11 and its 200-day moving average is $40.26.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $54.00 price target on shares of SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on SLB in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

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.