Principal Securities Inc. Has $227,000 Position in Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT) by 699.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,892 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,405 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Crane NXT were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Crane NXT by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 752,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,824,000 after purchasing an additional 9,921 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Crane NXT during the 4th quarter worth approximately $643,000. RNC Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Crane NXT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $764,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Crane NXT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,517,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Crane NXT by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 30,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. 77.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CXT. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Crane NXT from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Northland Capmk cut shares of Crane NXT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities cut shares of Crane NXT from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.33.

Crane NXT Price Performance

CXT stock opened at $58.15 on Monday. Crane NXT, Co. has a one year low of $52.89 and a one year high of $67.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. Crane NXT had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 24.08%. On average, analysts predict that Crane NXT, Co. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane NXT Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a boost from Crane NXT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Crane NXT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.06%.

Crane NXT Profile

Crane NXT, Co operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions.