Wells Fargo & Company MN Reduces Stock Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Wells Fargo & Company MN trimmed its position in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,972 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.14% of Crane worth $12,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Crane in the third quarter valued at $4,459,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Crane in the third quarter worth approximately $86,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Crane by 19.9% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,017 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $952,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Crane by 3.2% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 132,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,925,000 after purchasing an additional 4,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Crane by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 128,577 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,351,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crane Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE CR opened at $141.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 52 week low of $127.04 and a 52 week high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is 18.18%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CR. UBS Group upped their price target on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Crane from $170.00 to $144.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crane has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.60.

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.