Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $103.38.

CCK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $102.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $108.00 to $124.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Crown from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th.

Insider Activity at Crown

In other Crown news, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 1,914 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.67, for a total transaction of $173,542.38. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $680,025. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 1,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.67, for a total value of $173,542.38. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $680,025. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 9,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.24, for a total transaction of $902,476.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 123,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,382,323.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCK. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in Crown by 101.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 438 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Tobam purchased a new stake in Crown during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Crown during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Crown by 91.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Crown during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,000. 95.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCK opened at $91.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. Crown has a 12 month low of $66.00 and a 12 month high of $97.94. The stock has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.20 and a 200 day moving average of $85.08.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.03. Crown had a net margin of 3.84% and a return on equity of 27.45%. The business had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 9th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Crown Company Profile

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies rigid packaging products in Pennsylvania and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The Americas Beverage segment manufactures recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, and aluminum caps.