Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $6.76 Million in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 390,554 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,760,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in Core Laboratories by 26.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,192,871 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Core Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,531,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 990,267 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,350,000 after purchasing an additional 161,278 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,960,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 288.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,549,000 after buying an additional 62,042 shares in the last quarter. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Citigroup raised Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $15.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.50.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE CLB opened at $15.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.95 and a 1 year high of $25.13. The company has a market cap of $716.69 million, a PE ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.17.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. On average, analysts predict that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.