Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 276,157 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,894 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.59% of Core Laboratories worth $6,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CLB. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 77,738.3% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 109,752 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 109,611 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 1.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 40,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Core Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $5,037,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Core Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC grew its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 48.2% during the first quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC now owns 139,289 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 45,282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. TheStreet raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $21.70.

Core Laboratories Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CLB opened at $24.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The company has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.68. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.19 and a 1 year high of $27.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.26.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $127.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.20 million. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 7.75% and a return on equity of 16.83%. Research analysts anticipate that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 7th were paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 4th. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 4.82%.

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, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock, reservoir fluid, and gas samples to enhance production and improve recovery of oil and gas from its clients' reservoirs.