Man Group plc Sells 1,511 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Man Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,286 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,511 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Crane were worth $5,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CR. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crane by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Crane by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Crane by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Crane by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,815 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crane in the fourth quarter worth $330,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CR. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Crane from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Crane and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.20.

Crane Price Performance

Crane stock opened at $175.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $154.54 and its 200 day moving average is $161.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 52-week low of $127.04 and a 52-week high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The company had revenue of $557.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Crane’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Crane Company Profile

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.