Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Takes Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 880 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SLB. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 307,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $12,880,000 after purchasing an additional 63,413 shares during the last quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Schlumberger by 14.0% in the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 192,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,078,000 after buying an additional 23,621 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 0.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 60,405 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,534,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 18.8% during the third quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 5,753 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 5,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,880,160.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Schlumberger from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.97.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $43.59 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.26 and a 200-day moving average of $44.77. The company has a market cap of $61.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Schlumberger Limited has a 52 week low of $38.66 and a 52 week high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.27 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 35.37%.

About Schlumberger

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.