Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 42,083 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 756,107 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 42,083 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Crane were worth $114,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CR. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Crane by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,983 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Stonegate Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Crane by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 697 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Crane by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,799 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Crane from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crane has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Crane Trading Up 1.9 %

CR stock opened at $171.83 on Friday. Crane has a 1-year low of $118.48 and a 1-year high of $188.52. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.20.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.