Crane’s (CR) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a $200.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock.

CR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Crane from $187.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Crane and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.75.

Crane Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:CR opened at $186.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.73, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. Crane has a 12 month low of $127.04 and a 12 month high of $191.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $162.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.67.

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

Crane Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crane news, SVP Jason D. Feldman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total value of $230,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,734,871.60. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crane

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Crane in the first quarter worth approximately $9,489,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Crane by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,696 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crane by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 136,776 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,951,000 after buying an additional 4,217 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of Crane during the 1st quarter worth $498,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Crane by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 440,817 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $67,524,000 after buying an additional 84,278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.