Hedge Funds Are Betting On Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL)

Is Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) a buy, sell, or hold? Prominent investors are betting on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund positions moved up by 4 in recent months.

At the moment, there are dozens of indicators investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL).

How have hedgies been trading Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments had the largest position in Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL), worth close to $103 million, accounting for 2.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Ariel Investments’s heels is David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, with a $37 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.

Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Traxis Partners, managed by Barton Biggs, initiated the most valuable position in Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL). Traxis Partners had 2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CRL positions are Mike Vranos’s Ellington, Douglas W. Case’s Advanced Investment Partners, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

Insider trading activity in Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL)

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) is no exception.

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