Highland Capital Management LLC Has $5.28 Million Stock Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 2,494.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,426 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 97,516 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $5,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,528,372 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,609,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,821 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 1.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 106,818,561 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,246,928,000 after buying an additional 1,129,628 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,794,992 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,136,112,000 after buying an additional 861,439 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 1.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,171,516 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,584,099,000 after buying an additional 282,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 1.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,347,967 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,241,319,000 after buying an additional 401,606 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.78, for a total transaction of $329,875.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 249,182 shares in the company, valued at $13,151,825.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.78, for a total transaction of $329,875.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 249,182 shares in the company, valued at $13,151,825.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Katharina Beumelburg sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $420,960.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,581 shares in the company, valued at $819,872.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 172,191 shares of company stock worth $8,636,322. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SLB. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Schlumberger from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.87.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Schlumberger stock opened at $54.90 on Thursday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $42.73 and a 12-month high of $62.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $50.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.17. The stock has a market cap of $78.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.59.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 12.68%. The firm had revenue of $8.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 6th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.25%.

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.