Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) Stock Jumps 7.7% – Here’s What Happened

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI)’s share price traded up 7.7% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $196.80 and last traded at $197.4750. 68,702 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 154,733 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded Charles River Associates from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.00.

Charles River Associates Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $171.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.50.

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $210.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.91 million. Charles River Associates had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 6.20%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Charles River Associates will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles River Associates Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. Charles River Associates’s payout ratio is currently 30.36%.

Insider Activity at Charles River Associates

In other news, EVP Jonathan Yellin sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.25, for a total value of $389,812.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,932,257.25. This represents a 16.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles River Associates

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Charles River Associates during the second quarter valued at about $91,500,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles River Associates in the 2nd quarter worth about $19,965,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles River Associates by 86.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 105,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,052,000 after purchasing an additional 48,892 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles River Associates in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,066,000. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles River Associates during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,959,000. 84.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Charles River Associates

Charles River Associates, operating as CRA International, Inc, is a global consulting firm that provides economic, financial, and management consulting services. The company advises corporations, law firms, government agencies, and other organizations on complex business, legal, regulatory, and strategic matters.

CRA’s services include economic and financial analysis for litigation and regulatory proceedings, antitrust and competition consulting, corporate strategy, business performance improvement, and investigations.