Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Increases Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,642,716 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 130,689 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in SLB were worth $139,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 841 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In related news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SLB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of SLB from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SLB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.67.

SLB Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $53.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.84. The company has a market cap of $79.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.70. SLB Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $58.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 51.53%.

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.