Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 443,621 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,237 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.94% of Core Laboratories worth $7,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CLB. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Core Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Core Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $434,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 64,582 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,021,121 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,921,000 after acquiring an additional 84,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connable Office Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 16,793 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 2,569 shares during the last quarter. 97.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.00.

Core Laboratories Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of Core Laboratories stock opened at $17.99 on Tuesday. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.82 and a 52-week high of $25.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.63 million, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.32.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 5.99%. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.06%.

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.