Fisher Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 941,269 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 48,998 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 2.00% of Core Laboratories worth $16,293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CLB. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 26.7% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,653,591 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $104,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,871 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $3,531,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $1,960,000. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,021,121 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,921,000 after purchasing an additional 84,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Core Laboratories by 288.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after acquiring an additional 62,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:CLB opened at $13.91 on Tuesday. 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 $651.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $17.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.57. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.70 and a 1-year high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. Analysts forecast that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is 6.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CLB. StockNews.com raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Core Laboratories 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.