Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) Trading Up 6.7% – Should You Buy?

Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT) shares were up 6.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $47.55 and last traded at $48.64. Approximately 52,092 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 773,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CXT. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Crane NXT from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Crane NXT from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Crane NXT from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $67.00 target price on Crane NXT in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Crane NXT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crane NXT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.40.

Crane NXT Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77 and a beta of 1.15.

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. Crane NXT had a return on equity of 19.59% and a net margin of 7.57%.The business had revenue of $387.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Crane NXT has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.100-4.400 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Crane NXT, Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane NXT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, May 31st were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Crane NXT’s payout ratio is currently 32.14%.

Institutional Trading of Crane NXT

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Crane NXT by 2,449.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,770,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,446,000 after buying an additional 1,701,361 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crane NXT by 632.9% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,571,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,312 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crane NXT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,057,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane NXT in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,309,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Crane NXT by 409.6% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 392,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,460,000 after purchasing an additional 315,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.49% of the company’s stock.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products.