Royce & Associates LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,021,121 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,022 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 2.17% of Core Laboratories worth $18,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Core Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $36,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Core Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Core Laboratories by 23.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Core Laboratories by 13.9% during the first quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,351 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Core Laboratories by 11.9% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

CLB stock opened at $19.53 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $13.82 and a one year high of $25.13. The stock has a market cap of $916.93 million, a PE ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.26.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released 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. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 15.84%. The business had revenue of $134.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

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.