River Street Advisors LLC Takes $252,000 Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

River Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,648 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CR. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in Crane by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Crane by 31.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake 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. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in Crane during the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Crane by 84.7% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 687 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CR. Wall Street Zen lowered Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Crane from $187.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Crane and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.75.

Crane Stock Performance

NYSE:CR opened at $178.21 on Friday. Crane has a 12 month low of $127.04 and a 12 month high of $191.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $166.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.58.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crane news, SVP Jason D. Feldman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total transaction of $230,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,734,871.60. This trade represents a 11.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crane 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.