Nicholas Company Inc. Reduces Position in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. $CRL

Nicholas Company Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) by 98.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 825 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 68,621 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Charles River Laboratories International were worth $125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 2.1% during the second quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 13,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,982,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 42.7% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 598,777 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $90,852,000 after buying an additional 179,140 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 59.0% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 151.1% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 30,842 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,680,000 after purchasing an additional 18,557 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 86.8% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,850 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Charles River Laboratories International in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles River Laboratories International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph W. Laplume sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.60, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,800,681.60. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Charles River Laboratories International Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE CRL opened at $180.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $167.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.98. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.86 and a 12 month high of $230.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -135.46, a PEG ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 1.50.

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $983.76 million. Charles River Laboratories International had a negative net margin of 1.69% and a positive return on equity of 15.74%. Charles River Laboratories International’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles River Laboratories International Profile

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).