Crane (NYSE:CR) Shares Sold by Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR - Free Report) by 84.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 36,260 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Crane were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Crane by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 241 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Crane by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Crane by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 583 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane in the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Crane by 250.6% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 817 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CR shares. UBS Group raised shares of Crane from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crane from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 target price on Crane and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.20.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR opened at $175.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. Crane has a 1 year low of $127.04 and a 1 year high of $188.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $152.66 and a 200-day moving average of $161.01. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $546.93 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. Crane's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Crane's payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

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.

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