Holocene Advisors LP Makes New $72.60 Million Investment in SLB Limited $SLB

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,112,378 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,602,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in SLB by 23.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,371,335,000 after purchasing an additional 35,057,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SLB during the second quarter valued at about $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $683,901,000 after buying an additional 4,719,852 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 10,422.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 3,165,581 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $108,801,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,366,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $528,217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Price Performance

SLB opened at $44.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.53. SLB Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $52.45.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on SLB from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on SLB in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Evercore set a $54.00 target price on shares of SLB and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus raised shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.16.

SLB Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.