Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Receives $19.88 Average PT from Brokerages

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the four brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.50.

Several research firms recently commented on CLB. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 20th.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE CLB opened at $17.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $805.12 million, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.40. Core Laboratories has a 1-year low of $13.82 and a 1-year high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.82.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $128.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.80 million. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 15.19%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Core Laboratories will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is 4.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ariel Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,198,544 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $259,320,000 after purchasing an additional 394,237 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,927,366 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $184,311,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173,250 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,144,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $69,352,000 after acquiring an additional 46,425 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 2,277,774 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $54,689,000 after acquiring an additional 79,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,848,741 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $42,983,000 after acquiring an additional 568,196 shares in the last quarter. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Core Laboratories

Core Laboratories Inc provides reservoir description and production enhancement services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock and reservoir fluid samples to enhance production and improve recovery of crude oil and gas from its clients' reservoirs.