Employees Retirement System of Texas Acquires 41,129 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,591,235 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,129 shares during the quarter. Schlumberger accounts for approximately 2.8% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.11% of Schlumberger worth $591,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at about $735,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Schlumberger by 43,028.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,652,804 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $101,708,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646,653 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,396,967 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $590,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 196.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,312,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $88,654,000 after buying an additional 1,533,366 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 43,161 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.96, for a total value of $1,897,357.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 235,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,331,655.04. The trade was a 15.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 315,905 shares of company stock worth $13,609,283 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Trading Down 11.3 %

SLB opened at $34.77 on Monday. 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 Limited has a one year low of $32.37 and a one year high of $55.65. The company has a market cap of $47.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.45.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.79.

Schlumberger Company 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.