Short Interest in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Drops By 5.9%

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) saw a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,460,000 shares, a drop of 5.9% from the August 15th total of 7,930,000 shares. Currently, 16.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 462,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 16.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CLB shares. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com cut Core Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $18.50.

Core Laboratories Stock Up 4.9 %

NYSE:CLB opened at $18.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.36 and a 200-day moving average of $18.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $861.08 million, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.37. Core Laboratories has a 52 week low of $13.82 and a 52 week high of $25.20.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $130.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.85 million. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 5.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. Analysts predict that Core Laboratories will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 2.2% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Core Laboratories by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 18,054 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Core Laboratories by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 19.7% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,713 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 1.4% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,310 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.