Versor Investments LP Purchases New Holdings in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,675 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Crane during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,675,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Crane by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 413,723 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $62,782,000 after buying an additional 29,538 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Crane by 147.6% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 8,048 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 4,797 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Crane by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Crane by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $67,758,000 after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CR shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Crane from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crane currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.80.

Crane Stock Performance

CR stock opened at $162.95 on Friday. Crane has a 1-year low of $121.07 and a 1-year high of $188.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $161.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is 18.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

About Crane

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.