Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 25,713 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 180,901 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,713 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $7,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake 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 worth $598,544,000 after buying an additional 1,560,684 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 3,069,395 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,583,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $404,985,000 after buying an additional 100,477 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,990,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $335,214,000 after buying an additional 31,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 14.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SLB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $74.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.97.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Schlumberger stock opened at $43.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.52. 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 Limited has a 12-month low of $38.66 and a 12-month high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.37%.

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.