Crane (NYSE:CR) Receives “Buy” Rating from DA Davidson

Crane (NYSE:CR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at DA Davidson in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.09% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Crane from $187.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Crane from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.75.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CR traded up $0.77 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $186.76. 152,710 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 272,223. Crane has a 52-week low of $127.04 and a 52-week high of $190.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $159.73 and a 200-day moving average of $161.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $557.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Crane

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 stock was 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 owns 9,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,734,871.60. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crane in the 4th quarter valued at about $144,961,000. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC grew its stake in Crane by 117.3% during the first quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC now owns 937,237 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $143,566,000 after buying an additional 505,983 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the 1st quarter worth $75,254,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Crane by 619.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 499,656 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $75,823,000 after buying an additional 430,201 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Crane by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,455,854 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $372,676,000 after acquiring an additional 355,765 shares during the period. 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.