Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Crawford & Company from “strong buy” to “hold,” while shares were trading around $12.05, down 0.9%.
• The company exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.38 versus the $0.27 consensus estimate, although revenue of $321.44 million fell short of analysts’ $336.09 million forecast.
• Insiders sold more than 1.02 million shares worth approximately $13.1 million over the past 90 days, including a 1 million-share sale by major shareholder Jesse C. Crawford.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Crawford & Company Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Crawford & Company stock opened at $12.05 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.76. The firm has a market cap of $585.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 0.63. Crawford & Company has a fifty-two week low of $8.78 and a fifty-two week high of $13.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.11. Crawford & Company had a return on equity of 28.15% and a net margin of 1.81%.The company had revenue of $321.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $336.09 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crawford & Company will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crawford & Company

In related news, EVP Andrew Bart sold 3,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.36, for a total value of $44,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 86,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,154,237.20. This represents a 3.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jesse C. Crawford sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total value of $12,810,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,447,188 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,968,478.28. The trade was a 18.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,020,093 shares of company stock valued at $13,075,773. 51.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Crawford & Company

Crawford & Company is a global provider of independent claims management and related services for the insurance and risk-management industries. The company supports insurers, brokers, corporations and public entities throughout the life cycle of a claim, from initial reporting and investigation through evaluation, settlement and resolution.

Its services include property and casualty claims adjusting, workers' compensation administration, liability and automobile claims handling, catastrophe response, loss adjusting and third-party administration.

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