Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its holdings in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $3,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Charles River Laboratories International by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,467 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,638,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,161 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Charles River Laboratories International by 3.1% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,513,138 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $409,985,000 after acquiring an additional 45,079 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 11.9% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,251,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,559,000 after acquiring an additional 132,802 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 2.3% during the first quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 1,182,268 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $320,336,000 after purchasing an additional 26,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 0.5% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 893,761 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $242,165,000 after purchasing an additional 4,393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Charles River Laboratories International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Baird R W lowered shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered Charles River Laboratories International from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $239.00 to $191.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $228.00 to $203.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Charles River Laboratories International from $290.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles River Laboratories International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $231.00.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRL opened at $187.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.36. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.65 and a 12 month high of $275.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.64.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The medical research company reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Charles River Laboratories International had a return on equity of 14.96% and a net margin of 10.83%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Laboratories International declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Charles River Laboratories International

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).