Boothbay Fund Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Boothbay Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR - Free Report) by 35.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 19,638 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Crane worth $11,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CR. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Crane by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Crane in the 3rd quarter worth about $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Crane by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 583 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Crane during the 4th quarter valued at about $101,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Crane from $170.00 to $144.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price target on shares of Crane and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Crane from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crane presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $177.00.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of Crane stock traded up $9.62 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $158.29. 819,548 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 264,799. Crane has a 1 year low of $127.04 and a 1 year high of $188.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.07. 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 market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $546.93 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Crane's payout ratio is 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 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 directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.12% 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.