Crane’s (CR) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

Crane (NYSE:CR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 30.97% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on CR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crane currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.80.

Crane Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of CR stock traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.71. 31,998 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 228,460. The company has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.30. 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 $127.82 and a fifty-two week high of $188.52. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Crane news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were 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 owns 32,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crane

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crane by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,695,440 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $712,533,000 after acquiring an additional 14,373 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Crane by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,455,854 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $372,676,000 after purchasing an additional 355,765 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Crane by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,425,015 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $216,246,000 after purchasing an additional 138,279 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 976,497 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $148,184,000 after purchasing an additional 14,227 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter valued at about $144,961,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.