AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Takes $25.48 Million Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 664,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,481,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 761,875 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,961,000 after acquiring an additional 156,698 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 27.0% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 76,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Schlumberger by 8.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 817,771 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,305,000 after buying an additional 65,318 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 269.1% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 14,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 26.0% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 307,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,880,000 after buying an additional 63,413 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 198,258 shares of company stock worth $8,732,604. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB opened at $42.30 on Friday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. The company has a market cap of $59.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.75.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly 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. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9,241,140 billion. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Research analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. 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.