Leuthold Group LLC Makes New $5.06 Million Investment in SLB Limited $SLB

Leuthold Group LLC acquired a new stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 131,906 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,063,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in SLB by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in SLB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in SLB in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,628,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC grew its stake in SLB by 76.0% in the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 24,373 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 10,522 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in SLB by 7.6% in the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,326 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $55.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. SLB Limited has a 12-month low of $31.64 and a 12-month high of $57.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.44 and its 200 day moving average is $45.70.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. SLB’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Argus raised SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.74.

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.