Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in Crane (NYSE:CR - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,174 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,438 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.17% of Crane worth $14,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Crane by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Crane in the fourth quarter worth about $101,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Crane from $170.00 to $144.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Crane from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price target on Crane and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.40.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on CR
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.12% of the company's stock.
Crane Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE CR traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $142.51. 264,630 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 260,859. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. Crane has a one year low of $127.04 and a one year high of $188.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.57.
Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Crane Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from Crane's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Crane's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.18%.
About Crane
(
Free Report)
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.
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