Brokerages Set Crane (NYSE:CR) Target Price at $178.20

Crane (NYSE:CR) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $178.20.

Several equities analysts recently commented on CR shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 target price on shares of Crane and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Crane from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $157.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th.

Crane Price Performance

NYSE CR opened at $175.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.57. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. Crane has a 1 year low of $127.04 and a 1 year high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $546.93 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is 15.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crane

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CR. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Crane by 487.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Crane by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 256 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Crane by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the 1st quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Crane by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.