Miller Financial Services LLC Acquires New Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Miller Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,790 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 528,279 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 0.8% in the third 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 buying an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,916,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,244,975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $316,112,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SLB. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Six research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $41.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.61. Schlumberger Limited has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.66%.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In related news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,808. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 30,829 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.