Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 944 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,102 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 944 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 393.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Schlumberger during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 1,068.3% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. The trade was a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on SLB. Barclays dropped their price objective on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.03.

Schlumberger Stock Up 6.1 %

Shares of SLB stock opened at $43.58 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.48. Schlumberger Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.87.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9,241,140 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.37%.

Schlumberger Company 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.