Crown Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 4,876 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 164% compared to the typical volume of 1,848 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Crown from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Crown in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Crown from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Crown in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $88.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.21.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of CCK stock traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $82.07. 2,933,159 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,248,237. The company has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.91. Crown has a 12-month low of $69.61 and a 12-month high of $96.35. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $77.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.06. Crown had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 25.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Crown will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Crown's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Crown's payout ratio is presently 26.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.18, for a total transaction of $1,916,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 616,178 shares in the company, valued at $52,486,042.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CCK. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Crown in the 3rd quarter worth about $614,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Crown by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 46,708 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in Crown in the 3rd quarter worth about $230,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in Crown by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 17,898 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Crown by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,903 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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.