Crane $CR Stock: Sterling Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 17.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,613 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,139 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $7,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CR. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its holdings in Crane by 1,652.8% during the 1st quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 223,238 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $38,174,000 after acquiring an additional 210,502 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Crane by 241.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 145,622 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,710,000 after purchasing an additional 102,948 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Crane by 98.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 202,045 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,550,000 after purchasing an additional 100,157 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Crane by 497.6% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 90,650 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,675,000 after purchasing an additional 75,482 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Crane by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 361,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $61,777,000 after purchasing an additional 71,086 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CR shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 price target on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Crane from $215.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Crane in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $253.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Crane from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $239.00.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of Crane stock traded down $6.40 on Friday, hitting $182.65. 706,669 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 331,335. Crane has a 12-month low of $159.58 and a 12-month high of $230.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.54.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.11. Crane had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 18.67%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Crane has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.050 EPS. Analysts expect that Crane will post 6.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a $0.2550 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Crane’s payout ratio is currently 17.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Tullis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.38, for a total transaction of $82,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,212.98. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Crane Profile

Crane Company (NYSE: CR) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and manufactures highly engineered products for aerospace, industrial, commercial and other specialized markets. The company serves customers worldwide through businesses focused on mission-critical components, systems and services.

Its Aerospace & Electronics segment supplies products such as sensing and control systems, aircraft components, power-management equipment and other electronic solutions for commercial and military aerospace applications.