Grimes & Company Inc. Decreases Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Grimes & Company Inc. reduced its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 226,536 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 11,637 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $8,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 393.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the third quarter worth $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at $37,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Schlumberger by 1,068.3% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP purchased a new stake in Schlumberger in the third quarter worth about $47,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $42.30 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.52. Schlumberger Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.34 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 35.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SLB. Griffin Securities lowered Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In other news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,808. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 198,258 shares of company stock worth $8,732,604 in the last 90 days. 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.