Earnest Partners LLC Trims Position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,090,682 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 636,986 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 6.59% of Core Laboratories worth $52,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CLB. Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 10,825,657 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $184,902,000 after buying an additional 1,837,258 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,606,745 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $27,443,000 after acquiring an additional 240,989 shares during the last quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L boosted its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 101.7% during the 1st quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 326,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,583,000 after acquiring an additional 164,797 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Core Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,495,000. Finally, Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 420,411 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after acquiring an additional 145,161 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:CLB traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $23.76. The stock had a trading volume of 482,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,099. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 2.41. Core Laboratories Inc. has a one year low of $13.82 and a one year high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The company 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%. Core Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CLB. StockNews.com upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America dropped their price target on Core Laboratories from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target 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 boosted their target price on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

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.