Crane (NYSE:CR) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Crane (NYSE:CR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $181.00 and last traded at $181.00, with a volume of 367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $176.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.00.

Crane Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.38.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $597.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $594.45 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Crane’s payout ratio is 18.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CR. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crane by 2.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Crane by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at $515,000. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 11.2% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 4,915 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Crane in the third quarter worth $532,000. Hedge funds and other 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.