Northeast Financial Consultants Inc Makes New $1.74 Million Investment in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc purchased a new position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 41,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SLB. State Street Corp increased its position in Schlumberger by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after acquiring an additional 528,279 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Schlumberger by 14.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,560,684 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 1.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,583,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $404,985,000 after buying an additional 100,477 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Schlumberger by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 31,718 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on SLB shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.97.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of Schlumberger stock opened at $40.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Schlumberger Limited has a 1-year low of $38.66 and a 1-year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released 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. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.84% and a net margin of 12.44%. The business had revenue of $9.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Schlumberger’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is 35.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.