Crane (NYSE:CR) Short Interest Update

Crane (NYSE:CR) saw a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 772,200 shares, a decline of 14.0% from the October 15th total of 897,700 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 202,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CR. Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the 3rd quarter worth $2,997,000. JS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Crane by 98.0% during the 3rd quarter. JS Capital Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $35,536,000 after acquiring an additional 198,000 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crane during the third quarter worth approximately $21,302,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Crane by 12.3% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 225,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $20,047,000 after purchasing an additional 24,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Crane by 143.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,387,000 after purchasing an additional 68,795 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.91% of the company’s stock.

Crane Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of CR opened at $105.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.37. Crane has a 12-month low of $67.28 and a 12-month high of $106.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.16. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The company had revenue of $530.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 29th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Crane in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $118.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Crane in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Crane from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Crane in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.00.

About Crane

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. The company has three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials. The Aerospace & Electronics segment supplies critical components and systems, including original equipment and aftermarket parts, primarily for the commercial aerospace, and the military aerospace, defense, and space markets.