Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. Acquires 15,000 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 177.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,450 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the quarter. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $673,000. Romano Brothers AND Company raised its position in shares of SLB by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 83,242 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in SLB by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,924 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in SLB by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 393,925 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $15,119,000 after buying an additional 14,999 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.16.

SLB Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $53.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $80.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.30. SLB Limited has a 1 year low of $31.11 and a 1 year high of $53.70.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total value of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $2,982,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,987,919.40. This trade represents a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last 90 days. 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.