Short Interest in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Increases By 7.9%

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,720,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the May 31st total of 2,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 967,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.18, for a total transaction of $1,916,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 616,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,486,042.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $637,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 608,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,737,630. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 22,500 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.18, for a total value of $1,916,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 616,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,486,042.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,300,420 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCK. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its position in Crown by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 70,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,194,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Crown by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,825,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,089,029,000 after purchasing an additional 173,460 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Crown by 245.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 62,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,784,000 after purchasing an additional 44,630 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Crown by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,320,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,614,000 after purchasing an additional 44,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Crown during the 4th quarter worth $3,122,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE CCK traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $72.75. 272,819 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,117,186. The business’s 50-day moving average is $81.36 and its 200-day moving average is $82.08. Crown has a twelve month low of $69.61 and a twelve month high of $96.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.85.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 23.95% and a net margin of 3.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Crown will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 13th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CCK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Crown from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Crown from $101.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Crown in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Crown from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.29.

About Crown

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.