Wall Street Zen Upgrades Crown (NYSE:CCK) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Crown Holdings (NYSE:CCK) was upgraded from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting increased investor confidence.
• Several firms, including Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, have raised their price targets for Crown's stock, with a consensus average target price of $120.67.
• Crown reported $2.15 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and indicating a year-over-year revenue growth of 3.6%.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Baird R W cut Crown from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Mizuho increased their price target on Crown from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $118.00 target price (up previously from $117.00) on shares of Crown in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Crown from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Crown from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $120.67.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCK traded up $0.21 on Friday, hitting $100.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 241,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,608. Crown has a 12 month low of $75.98 and a 12 month high of $109.48. The company has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50-day moving average is $103.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.29. Crown had a return on equity of 27.15% and a net margin of 4.64%.The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.100-7.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.950-2.050 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Crown

In related news, CAO Gerard H. Gifford sold 8,222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.93, for a total value of $846,290.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,617,674.05. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Crown by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,421,691 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $455,346,000 after purchasing an additional 71,355 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,300,662 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $339,902,000 after acquiring an additional 165,600 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 58.6% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,727,276 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $280,855,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,980 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,533,612 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $260,835,000 after acquiring an additional 765,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $184,046,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.