Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires Shares of 105,726 Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 105,726 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $9,437,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.09% of Crown at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,039 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 325.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 846 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 812,474 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,183,000 after purchasing an additional 8,739 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter valued at $1,884,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,039 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owned 135,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,096,358. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of Crown stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.41, for a total transaction of $211,743.30. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 4,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,345. This represents a 32.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Crown from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Crown from $119.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Crown from $114.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $113.27.

Crown Price Performance

NYSE:CCK traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $108.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 722,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,240,946. The company has a market capitalization of $12.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.62 and a fifty-two week high of $108.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.26 and a 200-day moving average of $91.19.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.82 billion. Crown had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 26.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Crown's dividend payout ratio 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.