Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Short Interest Down 5.9% in August

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,460,000 shares, a drop of 5.9% from the August 15th total of 7,930,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 462,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 16.1 days. Approximately 16.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Laboratories

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 639,071 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,915,000 after purchasing an additional 52,639 shares during the period. Gendell Jeffrey L grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 162,093 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 42,140 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,392,034 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $92,096,000 after buying an additional 27,701 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 183,282 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,130,000 after buying an additional 53,090 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its stake in Core Laboratories by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,606,745 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $27,443,000 after buying an additional 240,989 shares during the last quarter. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CLB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered Core Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $18.50.

Core Laboratories Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of Core Laboratories stock opened at $18.36 on Wednesday. Core Laboratories has a 12-month low of $13.82 and a 12-month high of $25.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $861.08 million, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.36 and its 200-day moving average is $18.54.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 5.44%. The firm had revenue of $130.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $132.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. Core Laboratories’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Core Laboratories will post 0.8 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 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 4.55%.

Core Laboratories Company 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.