Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,710 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $1,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Crane by 103.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,348,451 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $182,216,000 after buying an additional 685,230 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crane during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,659,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Crane in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,205,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its position in Crane by 313.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 145,432 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,181,000 after acquiring an additional 110,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 13.0% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 727,846 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $98,354,000 after purchasing an additional 83,938 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Crane Trading Up 2.0 %

Crane stock opened at $152.92 on Monday. Crane has a 1 year low of $82.57 and a 1 year high of $162.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $150.30 and its 200-day moving average is $143.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.06. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The firm had revenue of $581.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.33 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crane’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CR. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Crane from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Crane from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.00.

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.