Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Trading 5% Higher

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) shares rose 5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $17.53 and last traded at $17.53. Approximately 123,200 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 465,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.01 and its 200 day moving average is $17.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $796.15 million, a PE ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 2.40.

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

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 5.1% during 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 buying an additional 394,237 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,173,250 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 46,425 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 79,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 568,196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Company Profile

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.