Crane (NYSE:CR) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Crane from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $125.00.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $129.48 on Friday. Crane has a twelve month low of $67.28 and a twelve month high of $139.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm had revenue of $532.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $519.55 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Crane’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crane

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Crane by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,894,887 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $578,282,000 after acquiring an additional 16,167 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 1.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,071,875 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $462,158,000 after purchasing an additional 46,506 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 93.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,666,141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $193,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,048 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 76.8% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,408,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $179,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,295 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,095,540 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $247,567,000 after purchasing an additional 79,710 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

About Crane

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.