KBC Group NV Lowers Stock Holdings in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

KBC Group NV lessened its stake in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 464 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Crown were worth $1,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCK. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown by 6.1% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Crown by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Crown by 36.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Crown by 5.4% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Crown

In other news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at $10,970,007.78. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,524,572.94. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Crown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $110.00 price target on shares of Crown in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.62.

Crown Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of CCK opened at $89.39 on Tuesday. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.61 and a 1-year high of $98.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.58. The stock has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 123.46%.

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.