Independence Bank of Kentucky Buys 4,200 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 42.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,004 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,281,480 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,883,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,753,108 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,379,848 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,922,768,000 after acquiring an additional 8,617,971 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 51,617,471 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,686,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,686 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter worth about $1,000,292,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 1.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,790,074 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $920,561,000 after acquiring an additional 292,817 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SLB shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total transaction of $3,044,964.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 33,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,612,897.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Schlumberger news, insider Gavin Rennick sold 38,083 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.28, for a total transaction of $1,838,647.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,213,686.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total transaction of $3,044,964.70. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 33,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,612,897.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,158 shares of company stock valued at $5,099,893. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Stock Up 0.4 %

SLB opened at $47.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.61. Schlumberger Limited has a twelve month low of $42.61 and a twelve month high of $62.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.57.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.75. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 21.88%. The firm had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.54%.

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.