Crane (NYSE:CR) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Crane in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $253.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson set a $255.00 price objective on Crane in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Crane from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.00.

Crane Stock Up 1.3%

Crane stock traded up $2.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $200.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 282,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,055. The company has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Crane has a 12 month low of $159.58 and a 12 month high of $230.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.61.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.23. Crane had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 19.17%. The firm had revenue of $756.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $737.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be given a dividend of $0.2550 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. Crane’s payout ratio is 17.53%.

Insider Transactions at Crane

In other news, Director James Tullis sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.38, for a total value of $82,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,031,212.98. This trade represents a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CR. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new position in shares of Crane in the second quarter valued at $3,229,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,496,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,063,000. Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 70,314 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,346,000 after buying an additional 7,098 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $10,771,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Crane

Here are the key news stories impacting Crane this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Crane from “Hold” to “Strong Buy,” a potentially supportive analyst signal for the shares. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also included CR on its Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list and in momentum-stock coverage. Separate Zacks articles cited manufacturing activity reaching a three-month high and a possible shift toward cyclical stocks as themes that could favor Crane. These overlapping mentions may reinforce positive sentiment, but they are not separate company-specific catalysts. Zacks Strong Buy stocks article Zacks manufacturing article

Crane Company 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.