Insider Selling: Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) VP Sells 7,000 Shares of Stock

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.4 %

Schlumberger stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $43.76. The company had a trading volume of 22,980,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,666,994. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $61.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.81. Schlumberger Limited has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9,241,140 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stablepoint Partners LLC boosted its position in Schlumberger by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 25,960 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares in the last quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE bought a new stake in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,532,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Schlumberger by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 252,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,662,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 89.8% in the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 16,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 7,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,481,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SLB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.