Crane (NYSE:CR) Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,008 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Crane were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crane in the fourth quarter worth $144,961,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Crane by 619.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 499,656 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 430,201 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Crane in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,127,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,062,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crane during the 4th quarter worth about $12,890,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given 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 $174.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Crane Trading Down 6.0 %

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $137.09 on Friday. Crane has a 12 month low of $128.50 and a 12 month high of $188.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $161.88. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.18%.

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.