Sargent Investment Group LLC Purchases 39,546 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 541.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,854 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,546 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $1,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SLB. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,514 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in Schlumberger by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Cordatus Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 2.1% during the third quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Up 2.7 %

NYSE SLB opened at $41.23 on Wednesday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12 month low of $36.52 and a 12 month high of $55.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $57.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.42 and its 200 day moving average is $42.43.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. Schlumberger’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict 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. 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 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total transaction of $223,224.84. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at $1,245,799.89. This represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total value of $5,427,346.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,160.34. This trade represents a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock valued at $11,442,229 in the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.