Eagle Asset Management Inc. Makes New $3.53 Million Investment in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 190,546 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $3,531,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned 0.41% of Core Laboratories at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Core Laboratories in the second quarter worth $36,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Core Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 11.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 12.8% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,776 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CLB shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.00.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLB traded down $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $20.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 364,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,188. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.33 and a 200-day moving average of $19.49. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.82 and a 12-month high of $25.13. The company has a market capitalization of $964.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.35.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.16 million. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.84% and a net margin of 5.83%. Core Laboratories's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Core Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.15%.

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.