Investors Purchase High Volume of Crown Put Options (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 4,876 put options on the company. This is an increase of 164% compared to the average volume of 1,848 put options.

Institutional Trading of Crown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCK. OFI Invest Asset Management boosted its stake in Crown by 17.9% during the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 11,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 1,673 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 449,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,641,000 after acquiring an additional 7,651 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Crown during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,868,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Crown by 1,646.9% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown by 2.9% in the first quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 29,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,325,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of CCK stock traded up $1.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $82.26. 1,555,868 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,231,170. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.60 and its 200 day moving average is $82.60. The company has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.91. Crown has a 1 year low of $69.61 and a 1 year high of $96.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.06. Crown had a return on equity of 25.75% and a net margin of 3.75%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Crown will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CCK shares. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Crown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Crown from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Crown from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.21.

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.