Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.45.

A number of equities analysts have commented on CCK shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Crown from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Crown from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Activity at Crown

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $679,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 135,014 shares in the company, valued at $13,096,358. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.41, for a total value of $211,743.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,345. This represents a 32.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown in the 4th quarter worth about $255,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Crown by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 8,190 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Crown by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,793 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Crown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,382,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $256,762,000 after buying an additional 3,074,791 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Stock Up 1.5%

CCK stock traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $98.53. 873,808 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,220,955. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.63. The company has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. Crown has a twelve month low of $70.84 and a twelve month high of $100.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.45. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Crown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.37%.

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.