Choate Investment Advisors Boosts Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Choate Investment Advisors increased its SLB stake by 196.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 36,242 shares valued at about $1.39 million.
• SLB saw mixed insider activity, with Director Patrick De La Chevardiere and EVP Steve Matthew Gassen both selling shares in recent transactions.
• Analysts remain generally upbeat on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $59.74; SLB also recently posted quarterly EPS of $0.52, slightly ahead of estimates, and declared a $0.295 quarterly dividend.

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 196.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,242 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 24,033 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors' holdings in SLB were worth $1,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLB in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SLB during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC acquired a new stake in SLB during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in SLB during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Steph & Co. increased its position in SLB by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB 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 directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital set a $48.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" 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 issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SLB currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.74.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $57.88. The stock has a market cap of $85.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. SLB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.53%.

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.