Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $17.08, but opened at $17.84. Core Laboratories shares last traded at $18.51, with a volume of 15,426 shares traded.

The oil and gas company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.04. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 5.44%. The company had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on CLB shares. StockNews.com cut Core Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Institutional Trading of Core Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 639,071 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,915,000 after buying an additional 52,639 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,392,034 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $92,096,000 after buying an additional 27,701 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 183,282 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,130,000 after buying an additional 53,090 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 446.8% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,460,720 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,508,000 after buying an additional 3,644,963 shares during the period. Finally, PEAK6 Investments LLC raised its holdings in Core Laboratories by 106.5% during the 1st quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 61,005 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after buying an additional 31,459 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Stock Up 10.8 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.96. The company has a market cap of $887.82 million, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.39.

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.