SLB Limited $SLB Holdings Cut by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp reduced its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,763 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 15,905 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in SLB were worth $3,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SLB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in SLB by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in SLB by 25.6% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 6,768 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in SLB during the second quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. raised its position in SLB by 47.6% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 81,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 26,375 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at SLB

In related news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,735.60. This represents a 28.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,113,627.90. This represents a 37.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 162,402 shares of company stock valued at $7,993,676. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Evercore set a $54.00 target price on SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SLB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.38.

SLB Stock Down 1.4%

SLB stock opened at $50.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98. SLB Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.11 and a fifty-two week high of $52.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.81. The firm has a market cap of $75.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.73.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.79%.

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.