Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 26,237 Shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 443,621 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,237 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.94% of Core Laboratories worth $7,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 26.7% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,653,591 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $104,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,871 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Core Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,531,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 990,267 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $18,350,000 after acquiring an additional 161,278 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,021,121 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $18,921,000 after acquiring an additional 84,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 62,042 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CLB. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Core Laboratories from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLB traded down $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.13. 314,757 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 310,331. The company has a market capitalization of $755.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.32. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.82 and a 1-year high of $25.13. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $17.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.80.

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

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Core Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is 6.06%.

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.