WCM Investment Management LLC Purchases 835,454 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Key Points

• WCM Investment Management sharply increased its SLB stake by 777.8% in the first quarter, buying 835,454 additional shares to bring its total holding to 942,864 shares worth about $48.6 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to or initiated positions in SLB, and institutional ownership now stands at 81.99% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on SLB, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a target price of $60.30, even though shares were trading around $47.01 and the company recently posted mixed quarterly results.

WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 777.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 942,864 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 835,454 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of SLB worth $48,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SLB. Hamel Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SLB during the 1st quarter valued at $316,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in SLB by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,901,998 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $817,246,000 after buying an additional 169,468 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in SLB by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 23,489 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 2,955 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in SLB by 194.4% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 383,317 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $19,699,000 after acquiring an additional 253,117 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in SLB during the first quarter valued at about $3,570,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SLB from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on SLB from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on SLB from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.30.

SLB Stock Up 0.0%

SLB opened at $47.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.31. 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 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $58.82.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The business's revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

About SLB

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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