HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 11,509 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 0.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,577,193 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 11,509 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $73,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abel Hall LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 2.7% during the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 7,535 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 3.6% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,712 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in SLB by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 5,041 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in SLB by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in SLB by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SLB. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, July 27th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of SLB in a report on Sunday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.35.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB stock opened at $57.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.73. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $60.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.76.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $8.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.67 billion. SLB had a net margin of 8.53% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.00%.

SLB 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.