Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 20.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 260,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 67,300 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $13,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its holdings in SLB by 93.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 580 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in SLB during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in SLB by 71.1% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 780 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of SLB by 97.5% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on SLB from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on SLB from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.80.

SLB Stock Down 0.8%

SLB stock opened at $47.38 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $58.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.72.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. SLB’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

SLB Company Profile

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.