Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $801,000 Stock Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,282 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,788 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Crane by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,625 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crane by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Crane by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Crane by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,975 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,845,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Crane by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,161,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In other Crane news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total value of $392,011.28. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.80.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR stock opened at $157.69 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $162.04 and a 200-day moving average of $162.10. The company has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.30. 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 has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

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.