Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Crane (NYSE:CR)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,784 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,540 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Crane were worth $2,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Crane by 70.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 75,410 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,190,000 after buying an additional 31,069 shares during the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crane in the 1st quarter valued at about $329,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Crane by 150.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Crane by 2.1% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,443 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Crane by 7.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 204,943 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,693,000 after buying an additional 13,610 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CR has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Crane from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.33.

Crane Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Crane stock opened at $173.50 on Friday. Crane has a twelve month low of $102.80 and a twelve month high of $180.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.43.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.06. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm had revenue of $597.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $594.45 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.06%.

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.