Capital International Investors Increases Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Capital International Investors boosted its SLB stake by 86.9% in the fourth quarter, ending with 11.6 million shares valued at about $446.2 million.
• SLB reported quarterly earnings of $0.52 per share, edging past estimates, while revenue reached $8.72 billion and rose 2.7% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share and has a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $60.67.

Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 86.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,627,072 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 5,404,948 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned about 0.78% of SLB worth $446,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLB by 23.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $6,371,335,000 after buying an additional 35,057,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $809,557,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of SLB by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,696,831 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $602,444,000 after buying an additional 6,149,511 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of SLB by 7.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,898,037,000 after buying an additional 5,466,786 shares during the period. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $178,883,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $54.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $81.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's 50-day moving average is $54.22 and its 200 day moving average is $47.89. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $58.82.

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

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded SLB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.67.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About SLB

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SLB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.