Crane (NYSE:CR) PT Raised to $150.00

Crane (NYSE:CR) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered Crane from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $125.00.

Crane Price Performance

CR stock opened at $130.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.20. Crane has a 1 year low of $67.28 and a 1 year high of $139.34.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $532.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.55 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC grew its stake in Crane by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 11,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Crane by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,213 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Crane during the 4th quarter worth approximately $951,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Crane by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,894,887 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $578,282,000 after buying an additional 16,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Crane during the 4th quarter worth approximately $443,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Crane Company Profile

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.