Covenant Partners LLC Acquires 585 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Covenant Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,456 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the quarter. Covenant Partners LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crane during the 4th quarter valued at $59,659,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,302,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Crane by 44.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 663,221 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $78,353,000 after acquiring an additional 204,924 shares in the last quarter. JS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crane by 98.0% in the 3rd quarter. JS Capital Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $35,536,000 after acquiring an additional 198,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Crane by 313.3% in the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 145,432 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $17,181,000 after acquiring an additional 110,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $157.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Crane from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.67.

Crane Stock Performance

NYSE CR traded down $5.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.64. 317,278 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 233,128. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.87. Crane has a 12-month low of $77.73 and a 12-month high of $150.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $141.89 and a 200-day moving average of $127.75.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $565.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.39 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Crane’s payout ratio is 21.98%.

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.