StockNews.com Lowers Crane (NYSE:CR) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CR. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $125.00.

Crane Trading Up 1.0 %

CR stock opened at $130.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. Crane has a twelve month low of $67.28 and a twelve month high of $139.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.30.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $532.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.55 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

Institutional Trading of Crane

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crane by 99.3% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 287 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at about $695,000. Bellecapital International Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at about $418,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at about $1,180,000. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at about $255,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crane Company Profile

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.