4,900 Shares in Crane (NYSE:CR) Bought by Fractal Investments LLC

Fractal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,900 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crane by 143.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,387,000 after acquiring an additional 68,795 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Crane in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $679,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Crane in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,619,000. JS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crane by 98.0% during the 3rd quarter. JS Capital Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,536,000 after acquiring an additional 198,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC boosted its position in Crane by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 11,785 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,993 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CR shares. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Crane from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Crane from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Crane currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.00.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of CR traded up $4.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $142.25. 496,645 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 242,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a PE ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.65. Crane has a one year low of $67.28 and a one year high of $143.67.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $565.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $546.39 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Crane’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

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.