Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $479,000 Stock Holdings in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CR. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Crane by 16.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 655,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $103,748,000 after buying an additional 91,029 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Crane by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 585,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $92,707,000 after acquiring an additional 3,188 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crane by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 384,588 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $55,758,000 after acquiring an additional 42,743 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 11.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 192,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,902,000 after purchasing an additional 20,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Crane by 5.1% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 183,725 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $29,080,000 after purchasing an additional 8,899 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR opened at $162.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.24 and a 200-day moving average of $158.03. Crane has a one year low of $110.49 and a one year high of $188.52. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $597.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $594.45 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Crane’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $176.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.00.

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.