Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,079,414 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 839,562 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.07% of SLB worth $37,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in SLB by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 12,137 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 35,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of SLB by 31.6% during the third quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 21.7% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,785 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In related news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $659,419.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. This represents a 37.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $48.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $72.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.31. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $52.45.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.SLB’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Equities analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on SLB. Loop Capital set a $48.00 target price on SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on SLB from $47.60 to $52.30 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

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.