StockNews.com Upgrades Crane (NYSE:CR) to “Buy”

Crane (NYSE:CR) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

CR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Crane from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Vertical Research upgraded Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Crane from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.00.

Crane Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $144.24 on Friday. Crane has a 12-month low of $67.28 and a 12-month high of $146.29. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $130.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.03.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm had revenue of $565.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Crane by 143.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,387,000 after purchasing an additional 68,795 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crane during the third quarter valued at approximately $679,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,619,000. Fractal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crane during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $579,000. Finally, JS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crane by 98.0% during the third quarter. JS Capital Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,536,000 after purchasing an additional 198,000 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently 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.