Carpenter Technology (NYSE:CRS) Price Target Raised to $300.00 at Benchmark

Carpenter Technology (NYSE:CRS) had its price objective boosted by Benchmark from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CRS has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Carpenter Technology from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Carpenter Technology from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Carpenter Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $188.83.

Carpenter Technology Stock Performance

Carpenter Technology stock opened at $252.77 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $205.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a PE ratio of 47.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.37. Carpenter Technology has a twelve month low of $95.17 and a twelve month high of $256.52.

Carpenter Technology (NYSE:CRS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $727.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $729.67 million. Carpenter Technology had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 9.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Carpenter Technology will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carpenter Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Carpenter Technology’s payout ratio is 11.33%.

Carpenter Technology declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Carpenter Technology

In other Carpenter Technology news, Director I Martin Inglis sold 3,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.66, for a total value of $678,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,330,647.12. This represents a 33.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Carpenter Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRS. FMR LLC increased its position in Carpenter Technology by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,444,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $754,295,000 after purchasing an additional 979,313 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Carpenter Technology by 37.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,107,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,869,000 after purchasing an additional 570,441 shares in the last quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new position in shares of Carpenter Technology during the first quarter valued at approximately $329,727,000. SurgoCap Partners LP increased its holdings in Carpenter Technology by 117.6% during the fourth quarter. SurgoCap Partners LP now owns 1,442,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $244,734,000 after buying an additional 779,357 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Carpenter Technology by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,138,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $193,279,000 after buying an additional 38,411 shares in the last quarter. 92.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Carpenter Technology

Carpenter Technology Corporation engages in the manufacture, fabrication, and distribution of specialty metals in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Mexico, Canada, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Specialty Alloys Operations and Performance Engineered Products. The company offers specialty alloys, including titanium alloys, powder metals, stainless steels, alloy steels, and tool steels, as well as additives, and metal powders and parts.