American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 96,372 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,472 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Core Laboratories were worth $1,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CLB. State Street Corp boosted its position in Core Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,975,016 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,597,000 after buying an additional 56,187 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,053,204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $19,521,000 after acquiring an additional 7,721 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 617,336 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,686,000 after acquiring an additional 16,503 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 443,621 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 26,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Core Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $6,760,000. 97.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLB opened at $12.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $597.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.75. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.14 and a 12 month high of $25.13.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.24%. Analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is 6.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.