Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 38,310 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 7.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 564,441 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 38,310 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.99% of Crane worth $81,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CR. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Crane by 150.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crane during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Crane by 29.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crane during the second quarter valued at about $123,000. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Crane from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Crane from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crane has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.00.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR opened at $154.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Crane has a one year low of $82.57 and a one year high of $162.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 41.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.06. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The business had revenue of $581.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.33 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crane’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Crane Profile

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.