Kempner Capital Management Inc. Sells 48,551 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Kempner Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 85.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,972 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 48,551 shares during the quarter. Kempner Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in SLB by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,380 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,614 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,096,925 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $42,100,000 after acquiring an additional 520,315 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in SLB by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,870,666 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $225,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,140 shares during the period. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in SLB by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 99,373 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,995,000 after acquiring an additional 12,715 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. This trade represents a 37.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total value of $921,541.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 224,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,092,801.50. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on SLB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Freedom Capital cut shares of SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.16.

SLB Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of SLB opened at $50.52 on Wednesday. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.11 and a 1-year high of $52.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.68.

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

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

About SLB

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.