Inspire Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,711 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $40.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $54.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Schlumberger Limited has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $55.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.57.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is 36.66%.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total value of $5,427,346.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,160.34. This trade represents a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 290,772 shares of company stock worth $12,546,660. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Schlumberger

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.