Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Decreases Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC decreased its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,506 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Schlumberger in the 4th quarter valued at about $735,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Schlumberger by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,986,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,913,312,000 after purchasing an additional 5,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 3,112.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,627,051 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $139,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,737,703 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,101,804,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119,543 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upped their price target on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In related news, insider Gavin Rennick sold 26,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.92, for a total transaction of $1,104,430.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 53,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,192,657.28. This trade represents a 33.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Aparna Raman sold 25,133 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total transaction of $1,062,623.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,311,990.68. This represents a 44.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.0%

Schlumberger stock opened at $35.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $48.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.06. Schlumberger Limited has a 1 year low of $31.11 and a 1 year high of $50.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $8.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is presently 38.64%.

Schlumberger 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.