First Merchants Corp Sells 18,744 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

First Merchants Corp cut its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 96,900 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 18,744 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $3,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total transaction of $223,224.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. The trade was a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $5,427,346.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock valued at $11,442,229 in the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SLB. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of Schlumberger stock opened at $42.07 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.09. 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 current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $58.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. 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 2.71%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

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.