GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC Lowers Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC trimmed its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 8.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 243,212 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 22,691 shares during the quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $8,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 14.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 150,317,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,080,734,000 after buying an additional 18,672,021 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of SLB in the second quarter worth $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $683,901,000 after acquiring an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 80.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $229,466,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in SLB by 346.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,876,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $133,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,911 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Evercore ISI set a $54.00 target price on SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on SLB in a report on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of SLB from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.42.

Insider Activity at SLB

In related news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 38,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total value of $1,412,927.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 175,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,607.50. The trade was a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Peter John Coleman sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.82, for a total value of $197,010.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,671 shares in the company, valued at approximately $668,795.22. This represents a 22.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 103,947 shares of company stock valued at $3,871,337 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB stock opened at $45.18 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.11 and a 52 week high of $45.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $67.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.21 and a 200-day moving average of $35.95.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. SLB had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.02%.

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.