Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 229,096 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 6,827 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Core Laboratories worth $3,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 136,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after buying an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 43,862 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 32,612 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 10,620 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,281 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE CLB opened at $13.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $647.15 million, a PE ratio of 20.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.53. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CLB shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.