Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 847,983 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 28,393 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Core Laboratories were worth $14,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,760,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Core Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $1,960,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $1,910,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Core Laboratories by 161.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 108,028 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,870,000 after acquiring an additional 66,747 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 288.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 62,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup raised Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Core Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.75.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of Core Laboratories stock opened at $11.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.75. The stock has a market cap of $520.17 million, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.45. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.14 and a 1-year high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. The company had revenue of $123.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $125.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.78%.

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.