Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 953 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 5.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,057 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 953 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Crane were worth $2,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in Crane by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 183,725 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $29,080,000 after purchasing an additional 8,899 shares in the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL increased its position in shares of Crane by 27.9% during the third quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 4,495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 0.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 29,789 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,715,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Crane by 285.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,340 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $184.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $161.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.81. Crane has a 52 week low of $102.80 and a 52 week high of $185.55.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $597.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $594.45 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Crane’s payout ratio is 18.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $176.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.00.

Crane 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.