Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Invests $568,000 in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd bought a new stake in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $544,301,000 after purchasing an additional 412,973 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its holdings in Crown by 153.0% in the second 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 buying an additional 1,989,374 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Crown by 31.5% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,976,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $147,032,000 after buying an additional 473,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Crown by 7.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,677,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $124,808,000 after buying an additional 111,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Crown by 5.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,471,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,504,000 after buying an additional 79,502 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Price Performance

CCK opened at $93.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.84, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $93.59 and a 200-day moving average of $87.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.61 and a 1-year high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Equities analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Crown’s payout ratio is 123.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.58, for a total transaction of $679,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,416,653.24. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value of $958,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,506 shares of company stock valued at $3,157,399. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on CCK. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $110.00 price target on Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.62.

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.