Rathbones Group PLC Sells 177,096 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• Rathbones Group reduced its SLB stake by 24.7%, selling 177,096 shares in the first quarter and retaining 541,269 shares valued at approximately $27.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 81.99% of SLB.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $61.35, despite Zacks Research downgrading the stock to “strong sell.”
• SLB exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.55 in EPS and $8.97 billion in revenue, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share, equivalent to a 2.4% annualized yield.

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 24.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 541,269 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 177,096 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in SLB were worth $27,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLB by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,455,878 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $7,156,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,999 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in SLB by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 84,417,217 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,263,998,000 after purchasing an additional 799,218 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in SLB by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 54,006,438 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,072,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,650 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in SLB by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,095,243 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,423,716,000 after purchasing an additional 482,533 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in SLB by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,840,883 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,292,993,000 after buying an additional 510,747 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SLB. Zacks Research cut SLB from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.35.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SLB Price Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $49.58 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $50.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.80. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $58.82.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Saturday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $8.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.67 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 8.53%.The firm's revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. SLB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.00%.

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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