Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CXT. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Crane NXT from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Crane NXT in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. CJS Securities raised Crane NXT to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Crane NXT from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.80.

Crane NXT Price Performance

NYSE:CXT opened at $52.53 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.90. Crane NXT has a 1-year low of $41.54 and a 1-year high of $69.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60 and a beta of 1.18.

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.03. Crane NXT had a net margin of 9.80% and a return on equity of 20.24%. The company had revenue of $445.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Crane NXT will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane NXT

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CXT. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Crane NXT by 2,449.9% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,770,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,446,000 after buying an additional 1,701,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crane NXT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,163,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in Crane NXT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,309,000. Southernsun Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Crane NXT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,264,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Crane NXT by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,635,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,711,000 after purchasing an additional 260,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.49% of the company’s stock.

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. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products.