Hardy Reed LLC Acquires New Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Hardy Reed LLC bought a new position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 35.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,640,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $635,883,000 after acquiring an additional 3,069,395 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Schlumberger during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,944,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Schlumberger in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Schlumberger by 14.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,686,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $598,544,000 after buying an additional 1,560,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,067,465 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $333,445,000 after buying an additional 915,705 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Schlumberger from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.97.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $43.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.52. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $38.66 and a twelve month high of $55.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day moving average of $44.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.27 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger 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.