Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.21.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CCK shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Crown in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Crown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Crown in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th.

Crown Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CCK opened at $77.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.81. The company has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $96.35.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 25.75% and a net margin of 3.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Crown will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is 26.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCK. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 202.1% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,019,873 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $249,774,000 after purchasing an additional 2,020,200 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter worth about $123,506,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Crown by 55.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,709,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,107 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown by 474.8% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,214,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $111,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter worth about $84,960,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures.