Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Stock Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,392 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 6,316 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $2,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $500,082,000 after buying an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Schlumberger by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,425,000 after buying an additional 1,916,851 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Schlumberger by 196.9% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,312,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $88,654,000 after buying an additional 1,533,366 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Schlumberger by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,529,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,356,000 after buying an additional 1,405,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC bought a new stake in Schlumberger in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,607,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $41.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $56.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.13 and its 200 day moving average is $41.43. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $36.52 and a twelve month high of $55.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Atb Cap Markets downgraded Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

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.