Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 101.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,350 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $1,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in SLB by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. LifePlan Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of SLB by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. LifePlan Financial LLC now owns 31,319 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLB by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 51,886 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of SLB by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 77,740 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,984,000 after buying an additional 3,732 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $2,982,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 140,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. This represents a 29.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,735.60. This represents a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $49.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $74.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.69. SLB Limited has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $54.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.51 and its 200 day moving average is $41.85.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. SLB’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus raised SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen increased their target price on SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $48.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.16.

SLB Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.