CRA International, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRAI) Short Interest Update

CRA International, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRAI) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 62,900 shares, a drop of 12.6% from the December 31st total of 72,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 34,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Insider Transactions at CRA International

In other news, CEO Paul A. Maleh sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $1,436,625.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,712 shares in the company, valued at $29,060,433.60. This trade represents a 4.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CRA International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRAI. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CRA International by 178.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 148,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,986,000 after purchasing an additional 95,050 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in CRA International by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 78,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,699,000 after buying an additional 23,078 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in CRA International in the third quarter worth $573,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in CRA International by 102.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CRA International by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.13% of the company’s stock.

CRA International Stock Performance

Shares of CRAI stock opened at $183.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. CRA International has a one year low of $104.23 and a one year high of $210.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.91.

CRA International (NASDAQ:CRAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The business services provider reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.19. CRA International had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 24.46%. The firm had revenue of $167.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CRA International will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRAI has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CRA International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on CRA International from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

About CRA International

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.