Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $142.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.07.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Charles River Laboratories International stock opened at $153.23 on Friday. Charles River Laboratories International has a 12 month low of $91.86 and a 12 month high of $230.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.85. The company has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -115.21, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.47.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.62. Charles River Laboratories International had a negative net margin of 1.69% and a positive return on equity of 15.74%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $983.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Charles River Laboratories International will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles River Laboratories International

In other news, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.60, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,800,681.60. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Charles River Laboratories International

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRL. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 56,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,390,000 after purchasing an additional 10,270 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,757 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,985,000 after buying an additional 3,194 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,131 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $763,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 359.4% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 82,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,209,000 after buying an additional 64,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in Charles River Laboratories International in the fourth quarter worth about $139,000. 98.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).