Natixis Acquires Shares of 30,050 Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Natixis acquired a new position in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 30,050 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $520,000. Natixis owned approximately 0.06% of Core Laboratories at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,058,620 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $18,329,000 after buying an additional 5,416 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $14,678,000 after purchasing an additional 28,393 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 617,336 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $10,686,000 after purchasing an additional 16,503 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 443,621 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 26,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,760,000. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.75.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CLB traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.44. 897,991 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 395,232. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.03. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $534.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.99. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.14 and a 52 week high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $123.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Core Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.78%.

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.