Norges Bank Buys Shares of 21,093,188 SLB Limited $SLB

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 21,093,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,557,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at about $90,000. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of SLB by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC now owns 13,480 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,116,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,213,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of SLB by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,151,682 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $82,582,000 after acquiring an additional 178,164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $54.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.52 and its 200 day moving average is $47.12. The stock has a market cap of $81.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.72. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $58.82.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s payout ratio is 51.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLB. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 price target on SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on SLB from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLB news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value 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. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.16% of the stock is owned by 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.