Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stock Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 16.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 448,300 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 63,500 shares during the quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $15,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the 1st quarter valued at about $169,232,000. Scharf Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,653,895 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $69,133,000 after acquiring an additional 281,773 shares during the last quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the 1st quarter valued at about $308,000. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 48.1% in the 2nd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 62,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,121,000 after purchasing an additional 20,387 shares during the period. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 9.6% in the second quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 493,092 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,667,000 after buying an additional 43,135 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SLB news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 39,727 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total transaction of $1,433,350.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 202,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,295,412.08. The trade was a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $33.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.11 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $49.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.49.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. SLB had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 44.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of SLB in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of SLB from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler set a $42.00 target price on shares of SLB and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.00.

SLB 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.