Crown (NYSE:CCK) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown (NYSE:CCK) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

CCK has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Crown from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Crown from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.45.

Crown Price Performance

NYSE:CCK opened at $99.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. Crown has a 52-week low of $70.84 and a 52-week high of $100.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $92.49 and a 200 day moving average of $89.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Crown will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $679,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 135,014 shares in the company, valued at $13,096,358. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.41, for a total value of $211,743.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,345. This represents a 32.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in Crown during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $762,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Crown during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $10,540,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Crown by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 356 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Crown by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 15,062 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its position in Crown by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 4,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures.