Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Lowers Stake in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. cut its position in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,249 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,257 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Core Laboratories worth $1,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 5.1% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,198,544 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $259,320,000 after purchasing an additional 394,237 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 37.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,927,366 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $184,311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,173,250 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,144,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $69,352,000 after purchasing an additional 46,425 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 3.6% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 2,277,774 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $54,689,000 after purchasing an additional 79,166 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 44.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,848,741 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $42,983,000 after purchasing an additional 568,196 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 3.1 %

CLB traded down $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.71. 447,641 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 470,090. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.88. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.82 and a 1 year high of $27.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $783.03 million, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 2.40.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.19% and a net margin of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $128.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 4.65%.

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.