Citigroup Downgrades Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) to Sell

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $175.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $215.00. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential downside of 9.28% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $265.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Baird R W cut Charles River Laboratories International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $290.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised Charles River Laboratories International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Charles River Laboratories International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.25.

Charles River Laboratories International Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CRL opened at $192.90 on Tuesday. Charles River Laboratories International has a 12 month low of $161.65 and a 12 month high of $275.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $205.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.09. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.36.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Charles River Laboratories International had a return on equity of 14.96% and a net margin of 10.83%. Equities 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 approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Charles River Laboratories International

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 76.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 220 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 219.3% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 281 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 362.5% during the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 259 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

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).