Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. Purchases 3,000 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 55.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,450 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Schlumberger by 393.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at $37,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Schlumberger by 1,068.3% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP purchased a new position in Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at $47,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on SLB. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. The trade was a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. The trade was a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 258,258 shares of company stock worth $11,246,604. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of SLB opened at $43.76 on Wednesday. Schlumberger Limited has a 1-year low of $36.52 and a 1-year high of $55.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.84 and a 200 day moving average of $42.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.52. 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 (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 35.37%.

Schlumberger Company Profile

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.