Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Position in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,033 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Charles River Laboratories International by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 80,744 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,002,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 35,713 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,593,000 after buying an additional 9,121 shares in the last quarter. M.D. Sass LLC grew its position in Charles River Laboratories International by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. M.D. Sass LLC now owns 391,824 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $72,331,000 after acquiring an additional 70,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 10,121 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 target price (down previously from $250.00) on shares of Charles River Laboratories International in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $177.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair lowered Charles River Laboratories International from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $184.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $189.77.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Shares of CRL opened at $136.95 on Friday. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.99 and a fifty-two week high of $258.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.77. The stock has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of 912.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.16. Charles River Laboratories International had a return on equity of 14.69% and a net margin of 0.52%. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $983.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Charles River Laboratories International

In other news, COO Birgit Girshick acquired 1,514 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.63 per share, for a total transaction of $249,249.82. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,064,198.54. The trade was a 2.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.50, for a total value of $715,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,252,112.50. This represents a 18.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Charles River Laboratories International Profile

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc provides drug discovery, non-clinical development, and safety testing services in the United States, Europe, Canada, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research Models and Services (RMS), Discovery and Safety Assessment (DSA), and Manufacturing Solutions (Manufacturing).