HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 854,016 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 82.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,883,802 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 854,016 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $72,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,455,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,156,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,999 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,898,037,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,786 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,718,458 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,063,834,000 after purchasing an additional 174,564 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $528,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,359,990 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $527,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SLB shares. Wall Street Zen cut SLB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on SLB from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.74.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $57.22 on Thursday. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $57.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $85.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.21.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.53%.

SLB Company 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.