Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 161,774 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 35.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 616,767 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,774 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $25,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SLB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,986,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,913,312,000 after acquiring an additional 5,225,828 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 3,112.1% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,627,051 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $139,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514,134 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Schlumberger by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,737,703 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,101,804,000 after buying an additional 3,119,543 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 817.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,694,494 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $64,967,000 after buying an additional 1,509,852 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at $56,507,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of Schlumberger stock opened at $33.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Schlumberger Limited has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $46.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.24.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.51 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 11.53%. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 39.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In related news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 5,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total transaction of $167,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,969.50. This trade represents a 17.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Schlumberger from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Schlumberger from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.28.

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.