Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 28,123 Shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,591,218 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 28,123 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.91% of Core Laboratories worth $96,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 173.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 2,688.5% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,426 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $149,000. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 11,219 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Citigroup upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Core Laboratories Trading Up 20.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CLB opened at $12.80 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.14 and a 52-week high of $25.13. The stock has a market cap of $597.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.75.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. Equities analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.06%.

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.