Eastern Bank Sells 5,671 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Eastern Bank decreased its position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 43.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,529 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,671 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Schlumberger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,808,476,000 after purchasing an additional 528,279 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Schlumberger by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,195,290,000 after purchasing an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,686,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $598,544,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560,684 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,990,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $335,214,000 after acquiring an additional 31,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Dbs Bank assumed coverage on Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $64.50 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Schlumberger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.58.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB stock opened at $39.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.48. Schlumberger Limited has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The company had revenue of $9.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Schlumberger’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 35.37%.

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.