Swiss National Bank Raises Stake in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of Crane worth $14,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CR. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Crane during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,127,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at $17,062,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Crane by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 655,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $103,748,000 after purchasing an additional 91,029 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crane in the fourth quarter worth $12,890,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Crane by 67.2% in the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 93,535 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,805,000 after buying an additional 37,581 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Crane

In related news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.80.

Crane Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of CR opened at $154.72 on Thursday. Crane has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.65. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.30.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Crane’s payout ratio is 18.18%.

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.