J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,317 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 8,011 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 2.1% in the third quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.44, for a total transaction of $2,486,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 210,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,202.88. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 263,782 shares of company stock worth $11,442,229 over the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SLB shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $42.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $59.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.51. Schlumberger Limited has a 1-year low of $36.52 and a 1-year high of $55.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.93.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

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.