Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 733,089 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 39.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,140,816 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 733,089 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.08% of Schlumberger worth $43,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 468.9% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,024 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Gavin Rennick sold 26,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.92, for a total value of $1,104,430.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 53,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,192,657.28. The trade was a 33.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Up 1.4 %

Schlumberger stock opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $57.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.42. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $36.52 and a twelve month high of $55.69.

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

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

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.