Crown (NYSE:CCK) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crown (NYSE:CCK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CCK. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Crown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Crown from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Crown from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.46.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE CCK opened at $85.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. Crown has a 1-year low of $69.61 and a 1-year high of $98.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Crown will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 123.46%.

Insider Activity at Crown

In other Crown news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at $10,970,007.78. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of Crown stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 563,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Crown by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Crown by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Crown during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown during the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Crown in the third quarter worth approximately $55,000. Hedge funds and other 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.