Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) Now Covered by CLSA

CLSA initiated coverage on shares of Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $167.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock.

CRL has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $191.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles River Laboratories International has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.00.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

CRL stock opened at $186.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $196.63 and a 200-day moving average of $212.36. Charles River Laboratories International has a 12-month low of $161.65 and a 12-month high of $275.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.36.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.41. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 14.96%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Charles River Laboratories International will post 10.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Laboratories International declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles River Laboratories International

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,467 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,638,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,161 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,908,989 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $394,359,000 after purchasing an additional 31,359 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,760,781 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $346,821,000 after acquiring an additional 509,163 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 3.1% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 1,182,268 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $320,336,000 after acquiring an additional 26,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).