Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC Sells 1,626 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,730 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,626 shares during the quarter. Crane accounts for about 0.1% of Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $9,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Crane in the third quarter worth about $515,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Crane in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $12,890,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Crane by 328.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 23,790 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,765,000 after buying an additional 18,236 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Crane by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 135,191 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,515,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,535 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,447,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of Crane stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total value of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,635,354.48. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR stock opened at $152.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Crane has a one year low of $128.50 and a one year high of $188.52.

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

Crane Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CR shares. StockNews.com downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.80.

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.