State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 584,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,018 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $22,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Schlumberger by 0.6% in 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 buying an additional 528,279 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Schlumberger by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,696,000 after purchasing an additional 915,925 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In related news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,808. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. The trade was a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Down 0.8 %

SLB opened at $41.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.96. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $36.52 and a twelve month high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.66%.

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.