Neuberger Berman Group LLC Raises Stock Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman increased its stake in SLB by 37.2% in Q3 to 1,796,501 shares (about $61.82M), while institutional ownership stands at 81.99% with Vanguard now holding 185.4M shares after adding 35.06M and Norges Bank building a new ~$618.7M position.
• Analysts are broadly positive—multiple recent upgrades and raised price targets leave SLB with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.
• Operationally SLB beat Q4 estimates (EPS $0.78 vs. $0.74, revenue $9.75B vs. $9.54B) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.295 (annualized $1.18, ~2.5% yield).

Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 37.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,796,501 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 487,298 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned about 0.12% of SLB worth $61,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in SLB by 23.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $6,371,335,000 after purchasing an additional 35,057,313 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in SLB in the second quarter valued at $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $683,901,000 after buying an additional 4,719,852 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of SLB by 25.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $528,217,000 after buying an additional 3,094,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SLB by 80.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $229,466,000 after buying an additional 3,031,906 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SLB shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.96.

SLB Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of SLB opened at $46.86 on Friday. SLB Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.11 and a fifty-two week high of $52.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $47.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.98. The firm has a market cap of $70.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is a boost from SLB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB's payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the business's 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the business'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 $659,419.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

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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