Moran Wealth Management LLC Purchases 35,311 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Moran Wealth Management raised its stake in SLB by 34.5% in Q4, buying 35,311 shares to hold 137,592 shares worth about $5.28 million.
• Company insiders sold a total of 156,902 shares (≈$7.8M) in the quarter, including sales by Dianne Ralston and EVP Abdellah Merad, leaving insiders with only 0.16% ownership.
• SLB beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.78 vs. $0.74; revenue $9.75B), raised its quarterly dividend to $0.295 (annual $1.18, ~2.2% yield), and retains a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $54.27 price target.

Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 34.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,592 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,311 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC's holdings in SLB were worth $5,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lakewood Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 59,708 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 49,924 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 8,820 shares in the last quarter. J.M. Arbour LLC bought a new position in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth $786,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of SLB by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,277 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of SLB by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,597,322 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $61,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,779 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 224,097 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $2,982,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 140,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. This represents a 29.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $52.68 on Friday. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $54.80. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $49.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $79.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69.

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

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from SLB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB's payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on SLB. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Loop Capital set a $48.00 price target on SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $54.00 target price on SLB and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on SLB in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.27.

SLB 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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