Strs Ohio Trims Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• STRS Ohio trimmed its stake in SLB by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, selling 33,687 shares and leaving it with 532,796 shares valued at about $20.45 million.
• EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 SLB shares at an average price of $56.18 for roughly $2.998 million, cutting his position by 52.96%; insiders now own just 0.16% of the company.
• Several analysts raised price targets (consensus rating: Moderate Buy, average target $58.95); SLB slightly beat Q results on EPS ($0.52 vs. $0.51), missed revenue estimates marginally, and announced a $0.295 quarterly dividend (2.1% yield, ex-dividend June 3).

Strs Ohio lessened its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 532,796 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 33,687 shares during the period. Strs Ohio's holdings in SLB were worth $20,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SLB shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SLB Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $57.00 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.72. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.64 and a 1-year high of $57.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $50.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.45.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

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