Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,821 Shares of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 222,269 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 10,821 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Core Laboratories were worth $4,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in shares of Core Laboratories by 446.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,644,963 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Core Laboratories by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,286,438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $66,682,000 after purchasing an additional 195,756 shares during the period. Gendell Jeffrey L increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 164,797 shares during the period. BWM Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories in the third quarter worth $1,205,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 184.6% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 69,740 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 45,232 shares during the period. 97.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLB opened at $21.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $991.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.35. Core Laboratories Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.82 and a fifty-two week high of $25.13. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.38.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.04. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 15.84%. The firm had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Core Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

Core Laboratories 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.