Crown Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 11,835 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 665% compared to the average volume of 1,548 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CCK shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Crown from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.62.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of CCK opened at $89.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $93.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. Crown has a twelve month low of $69.61 and a twelve month high of $98.46. The firm has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.91, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.85.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. On average, analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Crown’s payout ratio is 123.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total transaction of $725,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value of $958,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 114,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,970,007.78. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,002,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $951,306,000 after purchasing an additional 176,639 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Crown by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,556,000 after buying an additional 749,085 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Crown by 7.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $544,301,000 after acquiring an additional 412,973 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Crown by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $383,559,000 after purchasing an additional 69,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its stake in Crown by 153.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,289,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,374 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.