Prudential PLC Acquires 187,124 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Prudential PLC grew its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 527.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 222,612 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,124 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $8,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in SLB by 23.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,371,335,000 after acquiring an additional 35,057,313 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter worth $809,557,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,696,831 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $602,444,000 after buying an additional 6,149,511 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,898,037,000 after buying an additional 5,466,786 shares during the period. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter worth $178,883,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In related news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction 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 $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on SLB shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.67.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $54.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $81.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.70. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.64 and a one year high of $58.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.76 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

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.