First Financial Bankshares Inc Purchases New Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 509,607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,538,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 3.8% in the third quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 19,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 4,350 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Down 0.8 %

Schlumberger stock opened at $41.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $55.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. Schlumberger Limited has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.04 and a 200 day moving average of $41.44.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is 36.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SLB shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

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

About Schlumberger

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.