Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. significantly increased its investment in Schlumberger Limited by 478.8%, acquiring an additional 39,474,501 shares, which now totals approximately 3.51% of the company, valued at around $1.99 billion.
• Despite recent increases in investment from several institutional investors, Schlumberger's stock price has seen a decline of 1.9%, with shares trading at about $32.88.
• Schlumberger announced a quarterly dividend of $0.285, equating to an annualized yield of 3.5%, with the payment date set for October 9th.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 478.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,719,476 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 39,474,501 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 3.51% of Schlumberger worth $1,994,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Schlumberger by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 27,838 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Schlumberger by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 7,843 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Texas grew its position in shares of Schlumberger by 2.2% in the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Texas now owns 14,736 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 35,022 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 2.0% in the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 16,851 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SLB. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Schlumberger from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Schlumberger from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Schlumberger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.28.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In related news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total value of $167,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at $789,969.50. This represents a 17.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Schlumberger Price Performance

NYSE:SLB traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $32.90. The company had a trading volume of 10,215,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,141,180. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $46.16. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $34.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.87. The company has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a P/E/G ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. Schlumberger had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $8.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.04%.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.