Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 170,489 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 52,977 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in SLB were worth $5,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 161,314 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,544,000 after purchasing an additional 8,450 shares during the period. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA acquired a new stake in SLB during the third quarter valued at $518,000. Citizens National Bank Trust Department increased its holdings in SLB by 9.4% in the third quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 13,016 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in SLB in the third quarter valued at $253,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of SLB by 74.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,130 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,551,000 after acquiring an additional 19,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Redburn Partners set a $48.00 price target on SLB in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Rothschild Redb upgraded SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on SLB from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.42.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $45.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.85. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $45.24. The firm has a market cap of $67.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.02. SLB had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.69, for a total value of $2,261,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 159,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,006,692.99. This trade represents a 27.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 38,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $1,412,927.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 175,690 shares in the company, valued at $6,456,607.50. The trade was a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 103,947 shares of company stock worth $3,871,337 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.