HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 5,362 Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK – Get Rating) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,362 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Crown were worth $2,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barnett & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 11,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $952,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Brinker Capital Investments LLC boosted its position in Crown by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 12,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Crown by 1.7% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in Crown by 2.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Crown by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter.

Crown Price Performance

Crown stock opened at $81.55 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.55. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $66.00 and a one year high of $110.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.05.

Crown (NYSE:CCK – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.15. Crown had a return on equity of 31.41% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 10th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In other Crown news, Director James H. Miller sold 9,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total value of $789,198.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,312.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CCK. StockNews.com cut Crown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho increased their price target on Crown from $103.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Crown from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. TheStreet raised Crown from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Crown from $103.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.60.

Crown Company Profile

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Crown Holdings, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of packaging products and equipment for consumer goods. The firm offers aerosol cans, beverage, promotional, and transit packaging, closures and capping, and food cans. It operates through the following segments: Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging.