Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Crown Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from thirteen analysts, with an average 1-year target price of $120.67.
• The company reported earnings of $2.15 EPS for the last quarter, beating analysts' expectations of $1.86 and showing a revenue increase of 3.6% year-over-year.
• Crown recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, which results in an annualized dividend of $1.04 and a yield of 1.0%.

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $120.6667.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CCK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Crown from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Crown in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Baird R W downgraded Crown from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Crown Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Crown stock opened at $100.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $102.86 and a 200 day moving average of $94.41. Crown has a 52-week low of $75.98 and a 52-week high of $109.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.29. Crown had a net margin of 4.64% and a return on equity of 27.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. Crown's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.85%.

Insider Transactions at Crown

In related news, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 4,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $447,345. This trade represents a 32.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Gerard H. Gifford sold 8,222 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.93, for a total transaction of $846,290.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,617,674.05. The trade was a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 163,674 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,534,000 after acquiring an additional 3,563 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the fourth quarter worth about $2,894,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,486 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,198,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Crown by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 335,672 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $27,757,000 after buying an additional 42,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 78,942 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,528,000 after buying an additional 37,428 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Crown

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.

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