Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 1,111 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,511 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,111 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at about $735,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 196.9% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,533,366 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,529,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,607,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SLB. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Six investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.69.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In related news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 290,772 shares of company stock worth $12,546,660. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $41.87 on Friday. Schlumberger Limited has a 52-week low of $36.52 and a 52-week high of $55.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.46.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors 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. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. 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.