Lmcg Investments LLC Lowers Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Lmcg Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 33.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 148,295 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 73,682 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $5,686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position 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 buying an additional 156,698 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 27.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 817,771 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,318 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 269.1% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 14,376 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Schlumberger by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,901,713 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $89,723,000 after purchasing an additional 11,813 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Atb Cap Markets cut Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total value of $2,514,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. 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 1-year low of $36.52 and a 1-year high of $55.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.86 and a 200-day moving average of $42.84. The company has a market capitalization of $61.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.