Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Purchases 21,000 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 63,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares during the quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $2,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in SLB by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,455,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,156,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,999 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in SLB by 7.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,898,037,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,786 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SLB by 25.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $528,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094,764 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in SLB by 10.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,359,990 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $527,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,859 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in SLB by 24.4% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 14,198,874 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $491,139,000 after purchasing an additional 2,783,134 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SLB Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $57.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.72. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.64 and a 12 month high of $57.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.37.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The company had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SLB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 target price on SLB in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised SLB from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.95.

About SLB

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.