Short Interest in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) Grows By 26.3%

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,930,000 shares, a growth of 26.3% from the February 13th total of 2,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price target (down previously from $250.00) on shares of Charles River Laboratories International in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $155.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $188.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles River Laboratories International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $191.31.

Insider Transactions at Charles River Laboratories International

In other news, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 4,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 20,013 shares in the company, valued at $3,252,112.50. The trade was a 18.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Birgit Girshick purchased 1,514 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.63 per share, for a total transaction of $249,249.82. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 55,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,064,198.54. This trade represents a 2.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles River Laboratories International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Charles River Laboratories International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $601,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,745 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $95,086,000 after purchasing an additional 85,759 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,130,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $419,601,000 after purchasing an additional 41,421 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 111,995 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $22,060,000 after purchasing an additional 3,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 46,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,064,000 after purchasing an additional 3,268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

CRL stock opened at $177.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Charles River Laboratories International has a one year low of $150.79 and a one year high of $274.77. The stock has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 1,180.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.18.

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

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).