Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 117,587 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 499,669 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 117,587 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in SLB were worth $17,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $5,080,734,000 after purchasing an additional 18,672,021 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in SLB during the 2nd quarter valued at $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in SLB by 30.4% during 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 buying an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in SLB by 80.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,466,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of SLB by 346.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,876,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $133,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,007,911 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $54.00 price objective on SLB and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus upgraded shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $47.60 to $52.30 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $48.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other SLB news, Director Peter John Coleman sold 5,500 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.82, for a total value of $197,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $668,795.22. The trade was a 22.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 162,402 shares of company stock worth $7,993,676 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $50.37 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a 1 year low of $31.11 and a 1 year high of $52.40. The firm has a market cap of $75.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.46 and a 200 day moving average of $38.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 49.79%.

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.