Boston Partners Sells 389,489 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Boston Partners trimmed its SLB stake by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 389,489 shares and leaving it with 8.4 million shares valued at about $324.5 million.
• SLB insiders also sold stock, including EVP Steve Matthew Gassen and Director Patrick De La Chevardiere, while institutional investors still hold nearly 82% of the company.
• Analysts remain generally upbeat on SLB, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Moderate Buy; the stock also recently beat quarterly EPS expectations and announced a $0.295 quarterly dividend.

Boston Partners decreased its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,400,146 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 389,489 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned 0.56% of SLB worth $324,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its position in SLB by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 5,041 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in SLB by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 841 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,281 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SLB. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Three 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.67.

SLB Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:SLB opened at $56.03 on Friday. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.64 and a one year high of $58.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $83.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.51.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. SLB's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. SLB's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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