Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Shares in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,900 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $3,122,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in Crown during the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in Crown by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,013,351 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $185,409,000 after buying an additional 133,813 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Crown in the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,925,000. Finally, RKL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of Crown stock traded down $1.11 on Monday, reaching $76.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,338,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,219,480. The company has a market capitalization of $9.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.91. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.61 and a 52-week high of $96.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.96 billion. Crown had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 25.75%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 5.91 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Crown's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Crown's payout ratio is presently 26.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CCK. UBS Group began coverage on Crown in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Crown from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Crown from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.21.

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.