Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Crown (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 11,835 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 665% compared to the typical volume of 1,548 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown news, Director James H. Miller sold 1,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.60, for a total value of $96,173.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,187,734.40. This trade represents a 7.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.58, for a total value of $679,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,416,653.24. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Crown

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Crown during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Crown by 156.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Crown in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown by 172.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 608 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:CCK opened at $89.84 on Friday. Crown has a 52 week low of $69.61 and a 52 week high of $98.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $93.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 123.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CCK shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.62.

Crown Company Profile

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures.