Insider Selling: Crane (NYSE:CR) VP Sells 2,293 Shares of Stock

Crane (NYSE:CR) VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of Crane stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Crane Price Performance

NYSE CR opened at $169.99 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.99. 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 $118.48 and a 12-month high of $188.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Crane’s payout ratio is presently 18.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CR shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crane presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crane

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Crane by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,695,440 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $712,533,000 after purchasing an additional 14,373 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crane during the fourth quarter valued at $144,961,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Crane by 16.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 655,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $103,748,000 after purchasing an additional 91,029 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Crane by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 585,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $92,707,000 after purchasing an additional 3,188 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Crane by 619.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 499,656 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 430,201 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.