Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) Raised to “Neutral” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has $175.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $155.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CRL. Bank of America dropped their target price on Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Charles River Laboratories International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $188.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $177.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Charles River Laboratories International from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $198.36.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock opened at $164.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.32. Charles River Laboratories International has a one year low of $150.79 and a one year high of $275.00. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,096.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $983.63 million. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 0.52% and a return on equity of 14.69%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Charles River Laboratories International will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Charles River Laboratories International

In other Charles River Laboratories International news, COO Birgit Girshick acquired 1,514 shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.63 per share, with a total value of $249,249.82. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,064,198.54. This represents a 2.83 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.50, for a total value of $715,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,013 shares in the company, valued at $3,252,112.50. This trade represents a 18.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles River Laboratories International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRL. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 135,927.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,740,768 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $736,819,000 after buying an additional 3,738,018 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Charles River Laboratories International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $172,752,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Charles River Laboratories International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $98,886,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Charles River Laboratories International in the fourth quarter worth $56,820,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International during the fourth quarter worth $42,776,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

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).