Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $105.46.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Crown from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Crown Price Performance

Crown stock traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $85.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,126,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,101,216. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.18. The company has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Crown has a fifty-two week low of $69.61 and a fifty-two week high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Crown's payout ratio is currently 123.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In related news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total transaction of $725,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 563,678 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value of $958,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,970,007.78. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its position in Crown by 153.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,289,374 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $244,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,374 shares in the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Crown by 269.7% in the third quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 1,455,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $139,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062,001 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 125.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,352,711 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $129,698,000 after purchasing an additional 751,530 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $842,556,000 after buying an additional 749,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Crown by 31.5% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,976,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $147,032,000 after buying an additional 473,000 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently 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.