Crane (NYSE:CR) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CR. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Crane from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crane currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.80.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of CR opened at $162.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $161.35 and a 200 day moving average of $161.21. Crane has a twelve month low of $121.07 and a twelve month high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.18%.

Insider Transactions at Crane

In related news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of Crane stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the 4th quarter valued at $144,961,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Crane by 619.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 499,656 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after buying an additional 430,201 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Crane by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,455,854 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $372,676,000 after buying an additional 355,765 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the 4th quarter valued at $45,127,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Crane by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 754,170 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $114,445,000 after buying an additional 151,717 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.