Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) Shares Bought by Cooke & Bieler LP

Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 42.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 426,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,372 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $78,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRL. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 60,501 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,917,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 1,153.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 327 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,367 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after buying an additional 2,589 shares during the period. 98.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on CRL shares. Redburn Atlantic raised Charles River Laboratories International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $188.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on Charles River Laboratories International from $205.00 to $166.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (down from $250.00) on shares of Charles River Laboratories International in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $177.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $198.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James C. Foster acquired 6,075 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $165.01 per share, with a total value of $1,002,435.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 183,639 shares in the company, valued at $30,302,271.39. This represents a 3.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Birgit Girshick acquired 1,514 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.63 per share, with a total value of $249,249.82. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 55,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,064,198.54. The trade was a 2.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock opened at $175.13 on Tuesday. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.79 and a twelve month high of $274.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,167.55, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $168.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.45.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $983.63 million. Charles River Laboratories International had a return on equity of 14.69% and a net margin of 0.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current 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).