Royal Fund Management LLC Reduces Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Royal Fund Management LLC reduced its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 49.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,366 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 43,422 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $1,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 25.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 156,698 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 27.0% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 76,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,223,000 after buying an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 worth $34,305,000 after acquiring an additional 65,318 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 269.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 14,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SLB. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.03.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $36.52 and a twelve month high of $55.69. 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 firm has a market cap of $61.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.84.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total value of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.