Crown Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 11,835 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 665% compared to the average volume of 1,548 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In other news, Director James H. Miller sold 1,006 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.60, for a total value of $96,173.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,734.40. This represents a 7.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares in the company, valued at $54,524,572.94. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Crown by 3.8% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,013 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Crown by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 64,071 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,143,000 after acquiring an additional 19,492 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Crown by 12.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,467 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 4,020 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 10,834 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Crown during the third quarter worth about $641,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Crown Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CCK stock traded down $0.22 on Friday, reaching $89.84. 1,726,879 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,123,776. The company has a 50-day moving average of $93.58 and a 200-day moving average of $86.52. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $98.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.91, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. Crown had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. Analysts anticipate that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Crown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 123.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CCK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crown from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Mizuho set a $110.00 price objective on Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.62.

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.