Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 11,801 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,044 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,801 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $6,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 7.2% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 10,365 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 49.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,755 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,908 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,422 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,990 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 5.5% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 39,419 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after buying an additional 2,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 4.3% in the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 22,010 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $923,000 after buying an additional 916 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Griffin Securities lowered Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $5,427,346.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total transaction of $223,224.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at $1,245,799.89. This represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Schlumberger stock opened at $40.15 on Friday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. Schlumberger’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.37%.

Schlumberger Profile

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.