Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 41,997 Shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 332,662 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 41,997 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $65,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Charles River Laboratories International by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,467 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,638,290,000 after acquiring an additional 66,161 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International in the 1st quarter valued at about $415,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 452.1% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after buying an additional 3,278 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 456.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,649 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after buying an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis bought a new stake in shares of Charles River Laboratories International in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,058,000. 98.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard F. Wallman sold 6,621 shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.12, for a total transaction of $1,430,930.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,676,862.32. The trade was a 34.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $250.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $191.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.38.

Charles River Laboratories International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRL opened at $187.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.48 and a 12 month high of $275.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.89. The stock has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.38.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical research company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $975.99 million. Charles River Laboratories International had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 14.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.72 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 10.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles River Laboratories International announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are 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).