Crane (NYSE:CR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $125.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Crane from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Crane Trading Up 0.1 %

CR opened at $129.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.60. Crane has a one year low of $67.28 and a one year high of $139.34. The stock has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $532.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.55 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,894,887 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $578,282,000 after acquiring an additional 16,167 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Crane by 1.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,071,875 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $462,158,000 after purchasing an additional 46,506 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Crane by 93.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,666,141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $193,106,000 after buying an additional 1,285,048 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,408,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $179,899,000 after buying an additional 1,046,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Crane by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,095,540 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $247,567,000 after buying an additional 79,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.