State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 434,438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $16,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 14,035 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 3,812 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 24.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 261,421 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,967,000 after acquiring an additional 52,134 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in Schlumberger by 1.7% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 19,417 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 127,500 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,349,000 after acquiring an additional 36,890 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,711,382 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $113,742,000 after purchasing an additional 259,302 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total value of $2,486,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 210,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,202.88. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. This represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 290,772 shares of company stock worth $12,546,660. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $39.05 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.72. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. The firm has a market cap of $53.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.66%.

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.