Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Raises Stake in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) by 71.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 193,798 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 80,595 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.41% of Core Laboratories worth $2,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,158,702 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $20,058,000 after buying an additional 46,941 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Core Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,058,620 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $18,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,416 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Core Laboratories by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 847,983 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $14,678,000 after purchasing an additional 28,393 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Core Laboratories by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 577,752 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $10,001,000 after purchasing an additional 78,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Core Laboratories by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 556,509 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $9,633,000 after purchasing an additional 20,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.81% of the company's stock.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE CLB traded down $0.24 on Friday, reaching $11.41. 131,194 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,114. Core Laboratories Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.14 and a fifty-two week high of $25.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.83 and a 200 day moving average of $14.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $534.90 million, a PE ratio of 19.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.41.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.41% and a return on equity of 15.06%. The company had revenue of $123.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The company's revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Core Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 6.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Core Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday.

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.