Ingalls & Snyder LLC Raises Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 35.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,580 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,950 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC's holdings in Schlumberger were worth $866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SLB. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 205.6% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,636 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,520 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 393.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,980 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 18,172 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 383,827 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $16,102,000 after purchasing an additional 86,608 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total transaction of $2,486,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 210,502 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,723,202.88. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at $1,245,799.89. The trade was a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 in the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Schlumberger Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:SLB traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $41.75. 12,223,889 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,414,117. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.96. Schlumberger Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $58.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. Schlumberger'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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is a positive change from Schlumberger's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.81.

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.