Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Schlumberger Limited by 2.6%, selling over 3.5 million shares, leaving it with approximately 9.68% ownership valued at about $5.5 billion.
• Analysts have varying predictions for Schlumberger's stock performance, with an average target price set at $49.28 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from multiple investment firms.
• Schlumberger recently reported quarterly earnings, beating estimates with a net income of $0.74 per share, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.285, reflecting an annual yield of 3.5%.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,645,545 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 3,516,970 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.68% of Schlumberger worth $5,502,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Schlumberger by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,986,195 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,913,312,000 after purchasing an additional 5,225,828 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Schlumberger by 3,112.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,627,051 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $139,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514,134 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Schlumberger by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,737,703 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,101,804,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119,543 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Schlumberger by 817.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,694,494 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $64,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,852 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter worth about $56,507,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Schlumberger from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total value of $167,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $789,969.50. This represents a 17.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $32.88 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $44.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 1.03. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $46.16.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.51 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company's revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.04%.

Schlumberger Company Profile

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.

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