Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Takes $230,000 Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,440 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. CX Institutional raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Schlumberger by 3.8% in the third quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in Schlumberger by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 19,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Schlumberger by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 4,350 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Schlumberger stock opened at $41.14 on Tuesday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.69. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.61.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. The trade was a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 210,502 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,202.88. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 290,772 shares of company stock worth $12,546,660. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.