Carpenter Technology Corporation $CRS Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) by 40.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,802 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Carpenter Technology were worth $644,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CRS. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in shares of Carpenter Technology by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. ANB Bank boosted its stake in Carpenter Technology by 3.3% in the second quarter. ANB Bank now owns 1,304 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Carpenter Technology by 3.0% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Carpenter Technology by 0.6% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,674 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Carpenter Technology by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 92.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Carpenter Technology from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $425.00 price target on shares of Carpenter Technology and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Carpenter Technology from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $380.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Carpenter Technology in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Carpenter Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.43.

Carpenter Technology Stock Performance

Shares of CRS opened at $385.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.19 billion, a PE ratio of 44.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 4.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $337.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $295.11. Carpenter Technology Corporation has a 52-week low of $138.61 and a 52-week high of $390.70.

Carpenter Technology (NYSE:CRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $728.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.76 million. Carpenter Technology had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 23.63%. Carpenter Technology’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Carpenter Technology Corporation will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carpenter Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 27th. Carpenter Technology’s dividend payout ratio is 9.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brian J. Malloy sold 43,688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $13,300,811.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 78,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,013,493.75. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Elizabeth A. Socci sold 3,900 shares of Carpenter Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.25, for a total value of $1,252,875.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,082,072.50. The trade was a 28.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 79,358 shares of company stock valued at $24,254,008. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Carpenter Technology

Carpenter Technology Corporation engages in the manufacture, fabrication, and distribution of specialty metals in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Mexico, Canada, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Specialty Alloys Operations and Performance Engineered Products. The company offers specialty alloys, including titanium alloys, powder metals, stainless steels, alloy steels, and tool steels, as well as additives, and metal powders and parts. It serves to aerospace, defense, medical, transportation, energy, industrial, and consumer markets.