Westpac Banking Corp Acquires 1,973 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,758 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,973 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 468.9% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,024 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLB. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In related news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 123,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total value of $5,427,346.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,160.34. The trade was a 40.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 315,905 shares of company stock valued at $13,609,283. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Down 11.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $34.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.11. Schlumberger Limited has a 1 year low of $34.04 and a 1 year high of $55.65. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.45.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a $0.285 dividend. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Schlumberger Company 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.