Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Acquires New Shares in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 113,203 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,960,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.24% of Core Laboratories as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Core Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,975,016 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $36,597,000 after buying an additional 56,187 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,053,204 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $19,521,000 after purchasing an additional 7,721 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in Core Laboratories by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 617,336 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $10,686,000 after buying an additional 16,503 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position 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 worth $1,549,000 after buying an additional 62,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Core Laboratories by 5.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,281 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company's stock.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE CLB traded down $0.75 on Friday, hitting $16.13. 314,757 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 310,331. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.02 and a 200-day moving average of $18.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.82 and a 52 week high of $25.13. The stock has a market cap of $755.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 5.99%. Analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Core Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CLB shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Core Laboratories from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.25.

Core Laboratories 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.