Argyle Capital Partners LLC Invests $468,000 in SLB Limited $SLB

Argyle Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 13,629 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in SLB by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,371,335,000 after purchasing an additional 35,057,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of SLB during the second quarter valued at about $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $683,901,000 after buying an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 10,422.1% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 3,165,581 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $108,801,000 after buying an additional 3,135,496 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position 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 worth $528,217,000 after buying an additional 3,094,764 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.16.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other SLB news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $2,982,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 140,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $44.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. SLB Limited has a 12-month low of $31.11 and a 12-month high of $52.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.44.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

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.