24,118 Shares in SLB Limited $SLB Purchased by GSA Capital Partners LLP

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners bought 24,118 shares of SLB Limited in the fourth quarter, a position valued at about $926,000. Other institutional investors also increased or initiated stakes, and hedge funds and institutions now own 81.99% of the stock.
• SLB reported Q1 earnings of $0.52 per share, slightly above analyst expectations, on $8.72 billion in revenue. Revenue rose 2.7% year over year, and analysts currently expect the company to earn 2.61 EPS this year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share, payable July 9, implying an annualized yield of about 2.1%. Several analysts remain bullish, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $59.74.

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 24,118 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $926,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV purchased a new position in SLB in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SLB by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 326,945 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $12,548,000 after acquiring an additional 21,250 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SLB by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,883,802 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $72,300,000 after acquiring an additional 854,016 shares during the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC boosted its stake in SLB by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 8,945 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new position in SLB in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,974,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $57.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm's 50 day moving average is $52.40 and its 200 day moving average is $46.43. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.64 and a 12 month high of $57.88.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS 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 company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. SLB's revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. SLB's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SLB. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Freedom Capital cut shares of SLB from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.74.

SLB 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.

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