J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 56.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,317 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 8,011 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SLB. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,425,000 after buying an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC bought a new position in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,607,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,696,000 after buying an additional 915,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Schlumberger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,322,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SLB. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Griffin Securities cut shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $42.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $59.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $36.52 and a 52-week high of $55.69. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $40.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.93.

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 business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Schlumberger news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. The trade was a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total value of $5,427,346.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,160.34. This represents a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Company Profile

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.