Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 470,925 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 87,098 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $18,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SLB. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,520 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in Schlumberger by 4.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 18,172 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Schlumberger by 22.3% during the third quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,402 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Schlumberger by 26.6% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 13,800 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Schlumberger by 2.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 169,243 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $7,100,000 after buying an additional 3,882 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Schlumberger stock traded up $1.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.02. 5,044,315 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,031,256. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51. 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 business's 50-day moving average is $40.09 and its 200-day moving average is $41.93.

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

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a $0.285 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction 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 owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,808. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 over the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Schlumberger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Six equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.81.

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.