SLB Limited $SLB Shares Acquired by Allianz SE

Allianz SE lifted its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 334.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 197,299 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 151,845 shares during the period. Allianz SE’s holdings in SLB were worth $6,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in SLB by 23.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,371,335,000 after acquiring an additional 35,057,313 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of SLB during the second quarter worth about $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $683,901,000 after purchasing an additional 4,719,852 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 80.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $229,466,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of SLB by 346.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,876,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $133,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,911 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on SLB shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of SLB from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Freedom Capital downgraded shares of SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. This represents a 29.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total value of $201,160.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $981,912.25. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

SLB Price Performance

SLB stock opened at $51.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.73. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $52.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

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.