First Trust Advisors LP Takes $606,000 Position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 35,017 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Core Laboratories by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,058,620 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,329,000 after buying an additional 5,416 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Core Laboratories by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 617,336 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,686,000 after acquiring an additional 16,503 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 443,621 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 26,237 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,760,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Core Laboratories by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 229,096 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,966,000 after purchasing an additional 6,827 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CLB. StockNews.com cut shares of Core Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Core Laboratories from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Core Laboratories has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.75.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

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

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $123.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. Core Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.