Congress Asset Management Co. Raises Stock Position in Crane NXT, Co. $CXT

Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in Crane NXT, Co. (NYSE:CXT) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,216,829 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 49,669 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 2.12% of Crane NXT worth $57,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CXT. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Crane NXT by 2,449.9% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,770,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crane NXT during the second quarter worth about $32,163,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane NXT during the third quarter worth about $35,309,000. Southernsun Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane NXT during the 2nd quarter worth about $17,264,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Crane NXT by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,635,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,711,000 after purchasing an additional 260,986 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.49% of the company’s stock.

Crane NXT Stock Performance

Shares of Crane NXT stock opened at $42.73 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. Crane NXT, Co. has a one year low of $40.01 and a one year high of $69.00. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.28.

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. Crane NXT had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The firm had revenue of $476.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $450.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Crane NXT’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crane NXT, Co. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane NXT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Crane NXT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Crane NXT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CXT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $73.00 price target on Crane NXT in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Crane NXT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Northland Securities set a $62.00 target price on Crane NXT in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. CJS Securities upgraded Crane NXT to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Crane NXT in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crane NXT has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.60.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products.