Crown Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 9,980 put options on the company. This is an increase of 426% compared to the typical volume of 1,897 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CCK shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Crown in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Crown from $101.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Crown from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Crown in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.29.

Insider Activity at Crown

In other news, Director James H. Miller sold 9,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total transaction of $746,370.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,068,470.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director James H. Miller sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total value of $746,370.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,884 shares in the company, valued at $1,068,470.12. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $637,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 608,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,737,630. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,300,420. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCK. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in Crown by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 70,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,194,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Crown by 245.5% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 62,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,784,000 after buying an additional 44,630 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Crown by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,320,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $121,614,000 after buying an additional 44,195 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Crown during the 4th quarter valued at $3,122,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Crown by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 504,720 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,658,000 after acquiring an additional 19,666 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CCK traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $78.33. 141,322 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,114,999. The company has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Crown has a 52-week low of $69.61 and a 52-week high of $96.35.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.06. Crown had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 23.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Crown will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.82%.

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.