Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on CLB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America cut their target price on Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Reduce and an average price target of $18.75.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of CLB opened at $21.78 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 2.41. Core Laboratories has a 52 week low of $13.82 and a 52 week high of $27.94.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $129.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.47 million. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 8.18%. On average, analysts expect that Core Laboratories will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,713 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,351 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,552 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.