Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $253.23.

CRL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $240.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. TheStreet raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th.

Insider Activity at Charles River Laboratories International

In related news, VP William D. Barbo sold 4,050 shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.50, for a total value of $1,006,425.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,685,431.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Charles River Laboratories International news, EVP Victoria L. Creamer sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.70, for a total transaction of $1,268,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,437,635. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP William D. Barbo sold 4,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.50, for a total transaction of $1,006,425.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,685,431.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,932 shares of company stock worth $3,693,663 in the last ninety days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles River Laboratories International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRL. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 105.7% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 144 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 74.7% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 220 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 98.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Charles River Laboratories International Stock Performance

Shares of CRL stock opened at $236.30 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $251.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.17. Charles River Laboratories International has a 52 week low of $161.65 and a 52 week high of $275.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.44.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The medical research company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 16.53%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $991.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Charles River Laboratories International will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

Charles River Laboratories International Company 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).