Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Decreases Position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lessened its position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Free Report) by 40.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 847,648 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 577,430 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned 0.71% of Crown worth $70,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CCK. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Crown by 10,138.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $256,762,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,791 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown during the 4th quarter valued at about $113,568,000. Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its position in Crown by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 2,456,357 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $203,116,000 after buying an additional 1,000,605 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new position in Crown in the 4th quarter worth about $66,732,000. Finally, Vulcan Value Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown by 450.5% during the fourth quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 823,691 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $68,027,000 after acquiring an additional 674,072 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total value of $679,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 135,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,096,358. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CCK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Crown from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Crown from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $110.45.

Crown Stock Up 0.3 %

Crown stock traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $97.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 769,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,849. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.84 and a 52-week high of $98.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $88.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.38.

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

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Crown's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.37%.

Crown 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.