Cascade Financial Partners LLC Purchases 300 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Cascade Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,370 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the third quarter valued at about $208,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crane by 112.2% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 6,378 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Crane by 285.1% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,340 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in Crane during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Crane by 0.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 29,789 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Crane

In other Crane news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Crane Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of CR stock opened at $155.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $161.92 and a 200 day moving average of $161.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.30. Crane has a twelve month low of $128.25 and a twelve month high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Crane’s payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About Crane

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.