Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Makes New Investment in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS purchased a new position in Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 35,515 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned about 0.08% of Core Laboratories at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in Core Laboratories by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,653,591 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $104,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,871 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Core Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,531,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Core Laboratories by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 990,267 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $18,350,000 after purchasing an additional 161,278 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Core Laboratories by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,021,121 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $18,921,000 after purchasing an additional 84,022 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Core Laboratories by 288.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 62,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.81% of the company’s stock.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of CLB stock opened at $16.87 on Thursday. Core Laboratories Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.82 and a 12 month high of $25.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.85. The company has a market capitalization of $790.21 million, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 2.38.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 5.99%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Core Laboratories Inc. will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Core Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 6.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on CLB shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Core Laboratories from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.