Virtu Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 37,649 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,443,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after purchasing an additional 528,279 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,195,290,000 after purchasing an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,836,555 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,067,254,000 after purchasing an additional 343,261 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,529,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SLB. Citigroup upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Down 0.5 %

Schlumberger stock opened at $41.09 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $55.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. Schlumberger Limited has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.41. 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 posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Schlumberger news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total transaction of $223,224.84. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. This represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gavin Rennick sold 26,990 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.92, for a total value of $1,104,430.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 53,584 shares in the company, valued at $2,192,657.28. This represents a 33.50 % 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. Company 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.