Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 81,454 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its SLB stake by 4.7% in the first quarter, buying 81,454 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 1,800,923 shares valued at about $92.5 million.
• SLB is drawing attention for its push into data center infrastructure and power, including a strategic partnership with Liberty Energy that could open a new revenue stream beyond traditional oilfield services.
• Wall Street remains constructive on the stock, with analysts maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $59.65, while SLB also recently reported quarterly EPS of $0.52, slightly ahead of estimates.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,800,923 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 81,454 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of SLB worth $92,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in SLB by 93.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 580 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 71.1% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 780 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of SLB in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about SLB

Here are the key news stories impacting SLB this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The Liberty Energy partnership opens a potential new revenue stream for SLB in AI data center infrastructure and power, expanding the company beyond traditional oilfield services. SLB partners with Liberty Energy to supply modular parts, power to data centers
• Positive Sentiment: SLB said it has already shipped more than 1.3 gigawatts of data center infrastructure since April 2024, with cumulative deliveries expected to exceed 2 gigawatts by the end of 2026, suggesting growing traction in this business line. SLB, Liberty Energy to Form Strategic Alliance for Data Center Infrastructure and Power
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary says SLB still looks undervalued on some fair-value and discounted cash flow measures, which may support the stock, but that view depends on execution and investor confidence in the new data-center strategy. SLB (SLB) Stock Still Trades At A Discount To Fair Value
• Neutral Sentiment: SLB also won a Baleine Phase 3 EPC contract, which adds to subsea backlog and reinforces offshore growth, but this is more of a steady operational win than a major near-term catalyst. SLB Wins Multi-Well EPC Contract for the Baleine Phase 3 Development

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of SLB from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.65.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $47.56 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.18. SLB Limited has a 12-month low of $31.64 and a 12-month high of $58.82. The firm has a market cap of $71.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

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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