T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 46,941 Shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,158,702 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 46,941 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 2.47% of Core Laboratories worth $20,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,938 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 843.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,284 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,936 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,594 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. Natixis bought a new position in Core Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $520,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 3.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two equities 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 a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.75.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 2.4 %

CLB stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.44. The company had a trading volume of 897,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,323. The stock has a market cap of $534.27 million, a PE ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $13.77 and a 200-day moving average of $17.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Core Laboratories Inc. has a one year low of $10.14 and a one year high of $25.13.

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 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $123.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Core Laboratories's payout ratio is 6.78%.

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.