Crown (NYSE:CCK) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Crown (NYSE:CCK) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $105.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $109.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Crown from $105.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Crown from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.62.

Crown Stock Up 4.9 %

Crown stock opened at $82.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.81. The company has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 101.99, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.86. Crown has a fifty-two week low of $69.61 and a fifty-two week high of $98.46.

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

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 123.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Crown news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at $10,970,007.78. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares in the company, valued at $54,524,572.94. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA raised its stake in shares of Crown by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA now owns 57,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown by 110.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Crown by 2.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown by 3.8% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Crown by 6.7% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,539 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Company Profile

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.