Rational Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Rational Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 1,782.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,546 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 8,092 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC's holdings in Schlumberger were worth $328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SLB. State Street Corp raised its position in Schlumberger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,808,476,000 after buying an additional 528,279 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $470,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $310,696,000 after purchasing an additional 915,925 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Griffin Securities cut Schlumberger from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.81.

Insider Activity

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of Schlumberger 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 sale, the insider now owns 30,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

SLB stock traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $42.58. 9,998,996 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,171,571. Schlumberger Limited has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.92. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $59.65 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. The firm'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 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from Schlumberger's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger's dividend 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.