Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 37.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,487,646 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,653,798 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.68% of Schlumberger worth $363,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CX Institutional grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 19,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Schlumberger by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cordatus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Schlumberger by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $40.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.85. Schlumberger Limited has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $5,427,346.73. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.