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

CRA International, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRAI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 72,000 shares, a growth of 18.8% from the December 15th total of 60,600 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 35,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Activity

In other CRA International news, CEO Paul A. Maleh sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $1,436,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,060,433.60. This represents a 4.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRA International

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRAI. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CRA International by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $13,699,000 after buying an additional 23,078 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CRA International by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,268,000 after buying an additional 1,559 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its holdings in CRA International by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 8,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in CRA International by 102.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.13% of the company’s stock.

CRA International Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CRAI traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $182.75. The stock had a trading volume of 31,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,160. CRA International has a 12 month low of $104.23 and a 12 month high of $210.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.14.

CRA International (NASDAQ:CRAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The business services provider reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.19. CRA International had a return on equity of 24.46% and a net margin of 6.41%. The business had revenue of $167.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.83 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that CRA International will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

CRA International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. This is a positive change from CRA International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. CRA International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRAI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of CRA International from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut CRA International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

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.