Arizona State Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 407,489 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,336 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $15,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after purchasing an additional 528,279 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased 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 valued at $470,425,000 after buying an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Schlumberger by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,244,975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $316,112,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB opened at $39.47 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $53.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.285 per share. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

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.