Norges Bank Makes New $26.75 Million Investment in Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 459,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,754,000. Norges Bank owned 0.80% of Crane NXT as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Crane NXT in the 3rd quarter worth about $486,000. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Crane NXT in the third quarter worth about $525,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Crane NXT in the third quarter valued at approximately $490,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Crane NXT by 60.6% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 43,627 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 16,465 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Crane NXT by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,443,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,981,000 after buying an additional 22,041 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CXT. Northland Capmk lowered shares of Crane NXT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Northland Securities cut Crane NXT from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.33.

Crane NXT Price Performance

Crane NXT stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.27. 361,361 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 379,955. Crane NXT, Co. has a 52 week low of $41.54 and a 52 week high of $67.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.19 and a beta of 1.21. The company's fifty day moving average is $54.00 and its 200-day moving average is $57.17.

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. Crane NXT had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 24.08%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crane NXT, Co. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Crane NXT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from Crane NXT's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Crane NXT's payout ratio is presently 21.32%.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers' important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions.