Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Trading Down 4.9% – Time to Sell?

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) traded down 4.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $13.09 and last traded at $13.14. 226,924 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 319,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.47. The firm has a market cap of $697.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) 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 net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. On average, research analysts forecast that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLB. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 26.7% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 1,192,871 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Core Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,760,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Core Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,531,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 19.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 990,267 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $18,350,000 after purchasing an additional 161,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,960,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

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.