Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Acquires Shares of 11,692 SLB Limited $SLB

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 11,692 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in SLB by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SLB in the second quarter valued at approximately $935,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SLB by 69.4% during the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 18,047 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 7,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in SLB by 73.6% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,836 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,279,000 after buying an additional 16,040 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SLB Stock Up 0.7%

SLB stock opened at $47.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.68. 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 Limited has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $52.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.17.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. SLB’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SLB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Evercore set a $54.00 price target on shares of SLB and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.