Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CRL. Baird R W downgraded shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Charles River Laboratories International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America downgraded Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles River Laboratories International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.93.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

CRL traded down $3.91 during trading on Thursday, hitting $210.29. 845,105 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 615,945. Charles River Laboratories International has a twelve month low of $166.87 and a twelve month high of $275.00. The company has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.38. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $193.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.60.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical research company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.16. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 14.96%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $975.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Charles River Laboratories International will post 10.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Laboratories International declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRL. Norden Group LLC raised its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,836 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 10,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,873,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,610,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. 98.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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).