Crane (NYSE:CR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Crane (NYSE:CR) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $168.00.

CR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $176.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at about $515,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 192,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,902,000 after purchasing an additional 20,518 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 70.7% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 123,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,972,000 after purchasing an additional 51,342 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,797 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after purchasing an additional 4,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 673.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 82,172 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,913,000 after purchasing an additional 71,544 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of CR opened at $155.98 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.48 and its 200-day moving average is $157.56. Crane has a fifty-two week low of $110.49 and a fifty-two week high of $188.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $597.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $594.45 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.06%.

Crane Company Profile

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.