Crane (NYSE:CR) Share Price Breaks Above 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Crane (NYSE:CR)’s share price passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $202.63 and traded as high as $206.51. Crane shares last traded at $205.6850, with a volume of 515,405 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Crane from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Crane in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $253.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Crane from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Crane currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $242.00.

Crane Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $202.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $756.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $737.08 million. Crane had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 19.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Crane will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.2550 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. Crane’s payout ratio is 17.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In other news, Director James Tullis sold 614 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $138,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,219,725. This represents a 10.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crane

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at about $80,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Crane by 403.2% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 624 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in Crane in the first quarter worth about $198,000. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Asset Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Crane during the 2nd quarter valued at about $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Crane Company Profile

Crane Company (NYSE: CR) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and manufactures highly engineered products for aerospace, industrial, commercial and other specialized markets. The company serves customers worldwide through businesses focused on mission-critical components, systems and services.

Its Aerospace & Electronics segment supplies products such as sensing and control systems, aircraft components, power-management equipment and other electronic solutions for commercial and military aerospace applications.