Morningstar Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management cut its SLB stake by 41.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 34,875 shares and leaving it with 49,931 shares valued at about $1.92 million.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on SLB: the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a target price of $59.74, while several firms recently raised their price objectives.
• SLB reported a small earnings beat for the quarter, posting EPS of $0.52 versus the $0.51 estimate, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share, payable July 9.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 41.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,931 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 34,875 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in SLB were worth $1,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Genus Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $960,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of SLB by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 14,358 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of SLB by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,104 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of SLB by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 617,630 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $23,705,000 after buying an additional 121,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered SLB from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.65. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.64 and a 12 month high of $57.88.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. SLB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.53%.

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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