Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CLB. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America reduced their price target on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.00.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLB traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $20.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 49,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,030. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.12. Core Laboratories has a 1 year low of $13.82 and a 1 year high of $25.13. The company has a market capitalization of $973.27 million, a PE ratio of 32.08, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.84% and a net margin of 5.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Core Laboratories will post 0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is 6.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,392,034 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $92,096,000 after purchasing an additional 27,701 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 446.8% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,460,720 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $90,508,000 after acquiring an additional 3,644,963 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC lifted its stake in Core Laboratories by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 61,005 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after buying an additional 31,459 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Core Laboratories by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 306,287 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,215,000 after buying an additional 34,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,286,438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $66,682,000 after purchasing an additional 195,756 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.