Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 3,080 Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Crown by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,556,000 after purchasing an additional 749,085 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $544,301,000 after buying an additional 412,973 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $383,559,000 after buying an additional 69,260 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown by 4.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,061,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,242,000 after buying an additional 82,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Crown by 7.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,677,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $124,808,000 after acquiring an additional 111,589 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total transaction of $725,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CCK shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Crown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.46.

Crown Stock Performance

Crown stock opened at $87.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.61 and a fifty-two week high of $98.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.59. The company has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.55, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.86.

Crown 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.