Heartland Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL)

Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,049 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $2,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 1,071.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 164 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in Charles River Laboratories International by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 190 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 77.7% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 263 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International during the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRL has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $184.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on Charles River Laboratories International from $205.00 to $166.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair cut Charles River Laboratories International from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $189.77.

Charles River Laboratories International Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE CRL opened at $155.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $164.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.73. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.79 and a 52-week high of $273.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 1,037.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.45.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $983.63 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James C. Foster purchased 6,075 shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $165.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,435.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 183,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,302,271.39. The trade was a 3.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.50, for a total transaction of $715,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,252,112.50. This trade represents a 18.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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).