California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Stock Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System increased its SLB stake by 7.7% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 3.37 million shares worth about $173.4 million.
• SLB reported Q1 earnings of $0.52 per share, edging past estimates, while revenue came in at $8.72 billion and rose 2.7% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share on July 9, representing an annualized yield of about 2.5%; analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $60.30.

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,374,596 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 241,535 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.23% of SLB worth $173,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SLB during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in SLB in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 93.3% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

SLB Stock Down 0.1%

SLB opened at $47.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. SLB Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $58.82. The firm's fifty day moving average is $51.90 and its 200 day moving average is $50.22. The stock has a market cap of $70.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.72.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB's payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on SLB from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on SLB from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.30.

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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