John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Reduces Stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 299,704 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 29,000 shares during the period. Schlumberger makes up about 1.7% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $11,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SLB. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $500,082,000 after buying an additional 12,938,082 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Schlumberger by 20.6% during 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 valued at $470,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new position in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter valued at $52,607,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Schlumberger by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,103,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,696,000 after purchasing an additional 915,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Schlumberger during the third quarter valued at $37,322,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Griffin Securities downgraded Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,245,799.89. This represents a 15.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Schlumberger Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of SLB stock opened at $41.63 on Friday. Schlumberger Limited has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.51.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is presently 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.