Crown Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders bought 11,877 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 855% compared to the average volume of 1,244 put options.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of Crown stock opened at $80.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of 99.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Crown has a 12 month low of $69.61 and a 12 month high of $98.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.59.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 123.46%.

Insider Activity at Crown

In other Crown news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.00, for a total transaction of $697,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 571,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,119,554. This represents a 1.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 114,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,381,875. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Crown by 121.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,997 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,109,000 after acquiring an additional 12,058 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crown by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 249,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,295 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Crown by 139.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 122,380 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,104,000 after purchasing an additional 71,227 shares during the last quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 100,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,676,000 after buying an additional 7,280 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Crown by 62.0% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 23,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,722,000 after acquiring an additional 8,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho set a $110.00 target price on Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.62.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures.