Swiss National Bank Grows Stock Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 7.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,384,324 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 294,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in SLB were worth $225,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Equity Group Inc. purchased a new stake in SLB in the first quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in SLB during the first quarter worth approximately $6,651,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in SLB by 68.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 374,093 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,225,000 after purchasing an additional 151,404 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in SLB by 7.7% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,374,596 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $173,420,000 after purchasing an additional 241,535 shares during the period. Finally, Audent Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB in the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of SLB from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on SLB from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on SLB from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.30.

SLB Price Performance

SLB opened at $47.01 on Monday. 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 52-week low of $31.64 and a 52-week high of $58.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.31. The company has a market cap of $70.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.72.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,664,111.78. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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.