Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $7.23 Million Stock Holdings in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 61,179 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Crane were worth $7,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Crane by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 341 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crane in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. bought a new stake in Crane during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new position in Crane during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Cadent Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Crane in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $246,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CR shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Crane from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Vertical Research raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Crane from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given 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 $137.00.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR stock opened at $142.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. Crane has a 52 week low of $67.28 and a 52 week high of $146.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.47.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $565.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.39 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

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.