First Merchants Corp Lowers Position in Schlumberger Limited $SLB

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp reduced its holdings in Schlumberger Limited by 86.5%, ending the second quarter with 13,017 shares valued at $440,000 after selling 83,451 shares.
• Schlumberger reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.74, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations, with total revenue of $8.55 billion, down 6.5% from the same quarter last year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.4%, alongside a dividend payout ratio of 39.04%.

First Merchants Corp lowered its holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 86.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,017 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 83,451 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Schlumberger were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SLB. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 4.5% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 7,348 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Texas raised its stake 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 worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.5% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 22,633 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 6.3% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,655 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 5.8% in the first quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,374 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut Schlumberger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Schlumberger from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.18.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $33.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.99. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $45.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio is 39.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 39,727 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total value of $1,433,350.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 202,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,295,412.08. This represents a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Schlumberger Profile

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.

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