Crown (NYSE:CCK) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $99.16 and last traded at $99.20, with a volume of 272 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $96.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Crown from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.45.

Crown Trading Down 0.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $89.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.38.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. Crown had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 25.12%. Crown’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total value of $679,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 135,014 shares in the company, valued at $13,096,358. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,762,000 after buying an additional 3,074,791 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 412.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,719,296 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $153,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,624 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown in the fourth quarter valued at about $113,568,000. Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 2,456,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $203,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,732,000. 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.