Crown Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 5,775 put options on the company. This is an increase of 232% compared to the average daily volume of 1,742 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.96, for a total value of $682,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 651,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,238,973.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Crown in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Crown in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in Crown by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Crown in the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented 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 on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Crown from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Crown in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Crown in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.36.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of CCK stock opened at $79.26 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.02. The company has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.91. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $96.35. 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 (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Crown had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 25.75%. Crown’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.60%.

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.