Crown (NYSE:CCK) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crown (NYSE:CCK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

CCK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Crown in a report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Crown from $135.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Crown from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Crown in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Crown in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.40.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE CCK opened at $107.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.75. Crown has a twelve month low of $83.23 and a twelve month high of $116.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.14 and a 200 day moving average of $102.38.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 26.68% and a net margin of 5.97%.Crown’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. Crown has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.900-8.300 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.700-1.800 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 17th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Djalma Novaes, Jr. sold 29,734 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.80, for a total value of $3,413,463.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 88,052 shares in the company, valued at $10,108,369.60. This represents a 25.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.85, for a total value of $801,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 451,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,196,829.50. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 59,734 shares of company stock valued at $6,619,863 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crown in the fourth quarter worth approximately $158,288,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown in the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,230,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Crown by 226.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,474,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,789 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in Crown by 60.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,493,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $240,854,000 after acquiring an additional 943,045 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Crown by 36.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,467,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $333,197,000 after acquiring an additional 933,938 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products for consumer goods markets. The company designs, manufactures and sells metal packaging for beverage, food, household, personal care and specialty products. Its portfolio includes aluminum and steel beverage cans, steel food cans, aluminum aerosols, metal closures and ends, offering customers end-to-end solutions from design and prototyping to large-scale production.

Founded in 1919 as the Crown Cork & Seal Company, Crown has grown through strategic acquisitions and investments in advanced manufacturing technologies.