Wesbanco Bank Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its position in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,777 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 393.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Schlumberger during the third quarter worth about $37,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Schlumberger by 1,068.3% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 43,161 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.96, for a total value of $1,897,357.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 235,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,331,655.04. This trade represents a 15.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 198,258 shares of company stock valued at $8,732,604 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Schlumberger from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.6 %

SLB opened at $42.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $59.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.52. Schlumberger Limited has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.78.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9,241,140 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is 35.37%.

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.