Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 5,755,851 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 98.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 114,815 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,755,851 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in SLB were worth $5,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in SLB by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 5,041 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in SLB by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in SLB by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Davis Capital Management raised its position in shares of SLB by 1.0% during the first quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 21,968 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 841 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SLB. Barclays upped their target price on shares of SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SLB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.83.

SLB Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SLB opened at $46.95 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $54.22 and its 200 day moving average is $49.45. 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 Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $58.82.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. SLB’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 value of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.