Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Sells 16,618 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 16,618 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Crane were worth $4,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Crane by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Crane by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 583 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter worth $101,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised Crane from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.20.

Crane Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of CR opened at $169.87 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.35. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. 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 current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $557.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $546.93 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Crane’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Crane’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

About Crane

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.