Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Short Interest Down 6.5% in December

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,290,000 shares, a decline of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 6,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 309,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 20.3 days. Approximately 13.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of CLB stock traded up $0.62 on Friday, reaching $19.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 265,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 292,069. The company has a market capitalization of $926.51 million, a P/E ratio of 30.36, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.39. Core Laboratories has a 12-month low of $13.82 and a 12-month high of $25.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Core Laboratories will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 2,688.5% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,426 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,339 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in Core Laboratories by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 32,612 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in Core Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 136,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Core Laboratories by 5.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,281 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 43,862 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Core Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.00.

Core Laboratories Company 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.