TCW Group Inc. Acquires 259 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $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 increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during 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 acquired a new position in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter worth $52,607,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 12.7% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 915,925 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the third quarter valued at $37,322,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on SLB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Six research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. The trade was a 15.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Schlumberger stock opened at $41.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.45 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.51. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted 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. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. 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 yield of 2.75%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

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.