SLB Limited $SLB Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc slightly reduced its SLB stake in the fourth quarter, selling 27,307 shares and still holding 11.3 million shares worth about $434.4 million.
• SLB reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.52 per share, though revenue of $8.72 billion came in slightly below estimates; revenue still rose 2.7% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.295 per share, implying a 2.1% yield, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $59.74.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,318,643 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 27,307 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.76% of SLB worth $434,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in SLB by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $6,371,335,000 after acquiring an additional 35,057,313 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in SLB by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,898,037,000 after acquiring an additional 5,466,786 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in SLB during the 4th quarter worth $178,883,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its stake in SLB by 10,422.1% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 3,165,581 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $108,801,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135,496 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,094,764 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SLB Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $85.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $52.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.65. 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 Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $57.88.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. SLB's payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of SLB from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SLB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.74.

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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