Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Separately, Barrington Research boosted their price objective on shares of Charles River Associates from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st.

Charles River Associates Price Performance

NASDAQ:CRAI opened at $182.84 on Friday. Charles River Associates has a one year low of $133.54 and a one year high of $214.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.93.

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.29. Charles River Associates had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 25.88%. The business had revenue of $181.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.63 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Charles River Associates will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Associates Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Charles River Associates’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.45%.

Insider Transactions at Charles River Associates

In other news, EVP Jonathan D. Yellin sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.46, for a total value of $329,805.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,594,497.58. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Paul A. Maleh sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.62, for a total transaction of $1,429,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 141,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,981,307.90. This represents a 5.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Associates by 1.6% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 12,706 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Associates by 28,517.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,140,000 after purchasing an additional 6,559 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles River Associates by 599.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Charles River Associates during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Charles River Associates during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. 84.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Charles River Associates

CRA International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides economic, financial, and management consulting services worldwide. It advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings; and guides corporations through business strategy and performance-related issues.