Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 23,052 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise reduced its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,095 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 23,052 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in SLB were worth $2,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLB by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,455,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,156,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,999 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of SLB by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,898,037,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,786 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLB by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,718,458 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,063,834,000 after purchasing an additional 174,564 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SLB by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $528,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of SLB by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,359,990 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $527,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,859 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on SLB from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 target price on SLB in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.74.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $57.29 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $52.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $57.70.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

About SLB

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.