Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Short Interest Update

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,500,000 shares, a drop of 5.1% from the November 15th total of 6,850,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 309,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 21.0 days. Approximately 14.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Core Laboratories Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CLB opened at $18.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $890.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.70. Core Laboratories has a 52-week low of $13.82 and a 52-week high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.04. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.84% and a net margin of 5.83%. The business had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Core Laboratories will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLB. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 136.8% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,508 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 14,158 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Core Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $553,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 516,119 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,472,000 after purchasing an additional 38,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Core Laboratories by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,776 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

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.