Crane (NYSE:CR) Shares Sold by CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC decreased its position in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 286 shares during the quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Crane in the third quarter valued at $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Crane by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter worth $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Crane by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 583 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CR. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.80.

Crane Trading Down 6.0 %

NYSE CR opened at $137.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 1-year low of $128.50 and a 1-year high of $188.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.94. The company has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Crane’s payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Insider Transactions at Crane

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.