Stonegate Investment Group LLC Takes Position in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,367 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in Crane by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 193,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $26,087,000 after buying an additional 7,945 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC boosted its position in Crane by 13.7% during the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 33,360 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,508,000 after purchasing an additional 4,020 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Crane by 70.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 75,410 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,190,000 after purchasing an additional 31,069 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane during the 1st quarter worth approximately $911,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Crane by 103.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,348,451 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $182,216,000 after purchasing an additional 685,230 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CR. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Crane from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $157.33.

Crane Stock Down 2.1 %

CR opened at $159.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.58. Crane has a 1-year low of $82.57 and a 1-year high of $163.48. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 42.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.98%.

Crane Company 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.