UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $3,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,467 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,638,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,161 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased 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 worth $409,985,000 after buying an additional 45,079 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,251,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $258,559,000 after buying an additional 132,802 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP boosted its holdings in Charles River Laboratories International by 2.3% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Charles River Laboratories International by 0.5% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 893,761 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $242,165,000 after acquiring an additional 4,393 shares during the period. 98.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $290.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Charles River Laboratories International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles River Laboratories International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $231.00.

Charles River Laboratories International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRL opened at $187.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.65 and a fifty-two week high of $275.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $210.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.64. The firm has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 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 business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 14.96%. Sell-side analysts expect that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Laboratories International declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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).