Norges Bank Purchases New Position in Crane $CR

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,076,339 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $198,509,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CR. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Crane by 289,020.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,855,409 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,448,773,000 after purchasing an additional 7,852,692 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Crane by 114.8% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 439,157 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,866,000 after purchasing an additional 234,681 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crane by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 401,596 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,950,000 after purchasing an additional 215,815 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crane by 84.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 431,048 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $78,300,000 after purchasing an additional 196,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Crane by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 568,276 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $104,642,000 after purchasing an additional 186,060 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CR shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Crane from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crane presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $226.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In related news, Director Susan D. Lynch bought 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $177.38 per share, for a total transaction of $26,607.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,630.60. This trade represents a 68.18% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Crane Trading Up 2.3%

CR stock opened at $186.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 12-month low of $159.58 and a 12-month high of $214.31. The stock has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day moving average is $178.55 and its 200 day moving average is $186.93.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.21. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%.The company had revenue of $696.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $672.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. Crane’s revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crane has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.650-6.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Crane’s payout ratio is currently 18.35%.

Crane Profile

Crane Co, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is a diversified manufacturer of engineered industrial products serving customers around the world. The company operates through two primary segments: Aerospace & Electronics and Engineered Materials. Its Aerospace & Electronics division designs and produces valves, fittings, manifolds, and filtration systems for aircraft fuel, hydraulics, and environmental control systems. The Engineered Materials segment focuses on advanced polymers, heat exchangers, and specialized composite solutions for industries including chemical processing, semiconductor manufacturing, and power generation.

With roots dating back to its founding in 1855 in Chicago by R.T.