Crane (NYSE:CR) Shares Bought by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 697 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Crane were worth $101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Crane Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of Crane stock opened at $158.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. Crane has a fifty-two week low of $91.35 and a fifty-two week high of $163.48. The company has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $597.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $594.45 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Crane’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Crane’s payout ratio is presently 18.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CR. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crane presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.33.

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.