Is Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc (CRL) A Good Stock for Your Portfolio?

Judging by the fact that Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc (NYSE:CRL) has faced flat sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that also decided to sell off their positions heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Patrick Hughes and Loren Katzovitz’s Deimos Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $1.4 million in stock, and Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.4 million worth of shares. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc (NYSE:CRL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO), Gramercy Property Trust Inc (NYSE:GPT), Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT), and NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE:NS). This group of stocks’ market values resemble CRL’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $223 million. That figure was $594 million in CRL’s case. AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc (NYSE:CRL) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, and their ownership of the stock has remained steady for over a year, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: None