Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, an increase of 34.3% from the November 15th total of 2,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CCK shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Crown in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.62.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE CCK traded down $0.20 on Friday, hitting $87.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,088,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,137,063. The company’s 50-day moving average is $92.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.47. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. On average, analysts expect that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 123.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown news, Director James H. Miller sold 1,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.60, for a total transaction of $96,173.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,734.40. This trade represents a 7.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.00, for a total value of $697,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 571,178 shares in the company, valued at $53,119,554. This represents a 1.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,006 shares of company stock valued at $2,478,049. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $842,556,000 after acquiring an additional 749,085 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown by 7.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $544,301,000 after acquiring an additional 412,973 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $383,559,000 after acquiring an additional 69,260 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its position in shares of Crown by 153.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,289,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,061,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $197,242,000 after purchasing an additional 82,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Company Profile

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.