State of Michigan Retirement System Acquires 33,700 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 461,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,700 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in SLB were worth $15,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in SLB by 100.0% during the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 40,415 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 248,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after buying an additional 22,706 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 210,056 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 25,417 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,157,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,354,000 after acquiring an additional 100,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in SLB by 1,937.4% in the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 948,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital set a $48.00 price objective on SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $48.00 price target on SLB in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,627.90. This represents a 37.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $2,982,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. This represents a 29.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 260,849 shares of company stock worth $11,668,003 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

SLB Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE SLB opened at $50.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $75.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.73. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $51.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.10%.

SLB Company Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.