2,981 Shares in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Bought by Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC

Key Points

• Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired 2,981 shares of Crown Holdings, valued at approximately $289,000, as reported in their recent Form 13F filing.
• Equities research analysts have recently raised their price targets for Crown Holdings, with Royal Bank of Canada setting a target of $120.00 and Bank of America at $117.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock.
• Crown Holdings reported $2.15 EPS for its most recent quarter, exceeding analyst estimates and marking a 3.6% revenue increase compared to the previous year.

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,981 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CCK. Vulcan Value Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Crown by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,705,081 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $140,720,000 after purchasing an additional 399,842 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Crown by 488.4% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 361,411 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $29,885,000 after purchasing an additional 299,990 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Crown by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,549,470 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $128,126,000 after purchasing an additional 279,596 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Crown by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,092,911 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $90,373,000 after purchasing an additional 264,803 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CCK. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Crown from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Crown from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Baird R W downgraded shares of Crown from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $120.67.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE:CCK traded down $1.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $101.18. 927,734 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,289,865. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.74. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.98 and a 52-week high of $109.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company's 50 day moving average price is $103.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.80.

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

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. Crown's payout ratio is currently 21.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In related news, 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $447,345. The trade was a 32.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Gerard H. Gifford sold 8,222 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,617,674.05. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

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.