Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 148.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,370 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SLB by 100.0% in the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after acquiring an additional 40,415 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC boosted its holdings in SLB by 10.1% in the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 248,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,706 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in SLB by 13.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 210,056 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after purchasing an additional 25,417 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in SLB by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,157,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,354,000 after purchasing an additional 100,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in SLB by 1,937.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,265,000 after purchasing an additional 948,015 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In related news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 224,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of SLB stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,730,735.60. This trade represents a 28.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 260,849 shares of company stock worth $11,668,003. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on SLB from $47.60 to $52.30 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

SLB Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $50.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $75.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.68. SLB Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.11 and a fifty-two week high of $51.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. SLB’s payout ratio is presently 48.10%.

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.