Skylands Capital LLC Sells 13,400 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Skylands Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,900 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 13,400 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $3,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $7,156,177,000 after buying an additional 1,080,999 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in SLB by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 84,417,217 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,263,998,000 after acquiring an additional 799,218 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 54,006,438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,072,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,650 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of SLB by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,095,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,423,716,000 after acquiring an additional 482,533 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SLB by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,840,883 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,292,993,000 after acquiring an additional 510,747 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on SLB shares. Weiss Ratings cut SLB from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SLB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLB currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $46.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. SLB Limited has a twelve month low of $31.64 and a twelve month high of $58.82.

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

SLB Dividend Announcement

The business 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 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

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.