Amundi Sells 312,483 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Amundi lowered its position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,549,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 312,483 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $719,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Schlumberger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after acquiring an additional 528,279 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Schlumberger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $470,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,244,975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $316,112,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SLB shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of SLB opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. Schlumberger Limited has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.66.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $5,427,346.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 184,626 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,160.34. This trade represents a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at $496,808. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Profile

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.