Kempner Capital Management Inc. Sells 48,551 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Kempner Capital Management cut its SLB stake by 85.9% in Q4, selling 48,551 shares and retaining 7,972 shares worth about $310,000.
• Company insiders sold significant stock—EVP Abdellah Merad and CFO Stephane Biguet each sold ~60,000 shares on Jan. 26—and insiders have offloaded 156,902 shares (~$7.8M) over the past 90 days, leaving insiders with 0.16% ownership.
• Wall Street has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $53.16 price target, and SLB recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.295 (annualized $1.18, ~2.3% yield).

Kempner Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 85.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,972 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 48,551 shares during the period. Kempner Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in SLB were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,380 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in SLB by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,614 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in SLB by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,096,925 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $42,100,000 after buying an additional 520,315 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in SLB by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,870,666 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $225,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,140 shares during the period. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 99,373 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,995,000 after acquiring an additional 12,715 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered SLB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on SLB from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 155,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,730,735.60. The trade was a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SLB Price Performance

SLB stock opened at $50.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.02. The stock has a market cap of $75.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.68. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $52.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This is a boost from SLB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB's payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

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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