Maverick Capital Ltd. Makes New Investment in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 12,264 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,176,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $842,556,000 after purchasing an additional 749,085 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown by 7.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $544,301,000 after purchasing an additional 412,973 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its holdings in Crown by 153.0% during 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 during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Crown by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,976,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $147,032,000 after purchasing an additional 473,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Crown by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,677,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $124,808,000 after acquiring an additional 111,589 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.62.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCK traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $92.09. The stock had a trading volume of 420,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,093,787. The business's 50 day moving average price is $93.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.13. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.61 and a 1 year high of $98.46. The company has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.85. 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 (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. Research analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Crown's payout ratio is currently 123.46%.

Insider Activity at Crown

In related news, Director James H. Miller sold 1,006 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.60, for a total transaction of $96,173.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,187,734.40. This represents a 7.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Company Profile

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.