Private Advisor Group LLC Buys 498 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 12.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Crane by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,571 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,968,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD purchased a new stake in Crane in the second quarter worth about $209,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $232,000. Cascade Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Crane by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,638 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,137,000 after purchasing an additional 4,639 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CR shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Crane from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Crane from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR stock opened at $152.61 on Wednesday. Crane has a 12-month low of $82.57 and a 12-month high of $162.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a PE ratio of 40.92, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.06. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The company had revenue of $581.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Crane 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.