Nicholas Investment Partners LP Sells 10,977 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP lowered its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR - Free Report) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,541 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,977 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned 0.07% of Crane worth $6,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CR. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Crane by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,625 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,371,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Crane by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Crane by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,439 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Crane by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,196 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,244,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC grew its stake in Crane by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,954 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Crane Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Crane stock traded up $1.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $178.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 258,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 266,595. Crane has a 52-week low of $127.04 and a 52-week high of $188.52. The company has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50-day moving average is $153.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The company had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $546.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Crane's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CR. StockNews.com cut shares of Crane from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Crane from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Crane and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Crane from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.20.

About Crane

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.