Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Core Laboratories from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th.

Core Laboratories Stock Down 12.2%

Shares of CLB opened at $11.73 on Friday. Core Laboratories has a 52 week low of $10.14 and a 52 week high of $25.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $549.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.87.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 5.73%. The firm had revenue of $130.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. Core Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Core Laboratories will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 6.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 265,800.0% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,658 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 92.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,887 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 843.7% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 2,936 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $123,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

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.