Nicholas Investment Partners LP Acquires 468 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Crane were worth $6,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Crane by 2.6% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Crane by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 8,112 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crane by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Crane by 150.6% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Crane from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Crane from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Crane from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.00.

Crane Stock Up 2.2 %

Crane stock opened at $147.93 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 1-year low of $82.57 and a 1-year high of $162.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $581.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.33 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.98%.

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.