CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Cuts Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lessened its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,474,235 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 681,060 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.25% of Schlumberger worth $133,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,985,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,146,195,000 after buying an additional 1,377,134 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,836,555 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,067,254,000 after purchasing an additional 343,261 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at $735,398,000. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,529,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,186 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,396,967 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $590,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,203 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 315,905 shares of company stock worth $13,609,283 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Schlumberger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.15.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB opened at $34.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.11. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $31.11 and a 12-month high of $51.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.88.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.285 dividend. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

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.