Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,196 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Crane were worth $1,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Crane in the fourth quarter worth about $144,961,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 619.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 499,656 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 430,201 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,455,854 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $372,676,000 after purchasing an additional 355,765 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,127,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,425,015 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $216,246,000 after purchasing an additional 138,279 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CR. UBS Group raised shares of Crane from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Crane and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crane news, SVP Jason D. Feldman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total value of $230,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,734,871.60. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $170.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $155.17 and a 200 day moving average of $161.70. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. Crane has a 12-month low of $127.04 and a 12-month high of $188.52.

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

Crane Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Crane’s payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Crane Company 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.