Empowered Funds LLC Increases Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 1,346.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 367,329 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 341,935 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $15,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SLB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 134,150,168 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,352,771,000 after buying an additional 1,868,688 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 72.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,950,956 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,875,402,000 after acquiring an additional 37,333,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 14.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 85,986,039 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,712,897,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606,191 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,560,684 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Schlumberger by 35.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,640,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $635,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,069,395 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on Schlumberger from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Schlumberger from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank began coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.50 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. This represents a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Up 0.7 %

Schlumberger stock opened at $43.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.76. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $38.66 and a twelve month high of $55.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.12 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.84% and a net margin of 12.44%. The company had revenue of $9.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.