First Merchants Corp Sells 18,744 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

First Merchants Corp lessened its position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB - Free Report) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 96,900 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 18,744 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Schlumberger were worth $3,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Schlumberger in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,004,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 470,925 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $18,055,000 after purchasing an additional 87,098 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 468.9% during the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,024 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 7,006 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 78,692 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,017,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the sale, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total transaction 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 approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock valued at $11,442,229 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SLB. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $44.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Griffin Securities cut Schlumberger from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SLB stock traded down $0.34 on Monday, hitting $41.75. 12,223,889 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,414,117. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $40.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. Schlumberger Limited has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.