Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 31,516 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605,500 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 31,516 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $22,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 205.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,636 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 10,520 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 2.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 169,243 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $7,100,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 11.8% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 26,554 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,812 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Schlumberger by 101.1% in the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 22,653 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 11,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Schlumberger by 6.0% in the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 70,427 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,014 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SLB. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Griffin Securities cut Schlumberger from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut Schlumberger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.81.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was 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 directly owns 30,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. This trade represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total value of $2,486,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 210,502 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,723,202.88. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Schlumberger Stock Down 1.1 %

SLB traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.19. 12,747,422 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,301,458. The company has a market cap of $59.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 1.51. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $40.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Schlumberger Limited has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) 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. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This is an increase from Schlumberger's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.