Morningstar Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Morningstar Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 41.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,931 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 34,875 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $1,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in SLB by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,455,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,156,177,000 after buying an additional 1,080,999 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in SLB by 7.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,898,037,000 after buying an additional 5,466,786 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in SLB by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,718,458 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,063,834,000 after buying an additional 174,564 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in SLB by 25.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $528,217,000 after buying an additional 3,094,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in SLB by 10.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,359,990 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $527,923,000 after buying an additional 1,490,859 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.74.

SLB Stock Down 0.0%

SLB stock opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $57.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $52.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion during 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%.SLB’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.