DA Davidson Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Crane (NYSE:CR)

Crane (NYSE:CR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.09% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $187.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Crane from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.75.

Crane Stock Performance

CR stock traded up $0.77 on Tuesday, hitting $186.76. The company had a trading volume of 152,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 272,223. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.31. The stock has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. 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 has a 12-month low of $127.04 and a 12-month high of $190.53.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $546.93 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 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Crane

In related news, SVP Jason D. Feldman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total transaction of $230,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,734,871.60. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crane

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Crane by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crane by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Crane in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,032,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Crane by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 40,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,210,000 after purchasing an additional 10,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Crane by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 135,191 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,515,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.