Crane (NYSE:CR) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Key Points

• Crane shares moved above their 200-day moving average of $198.26, reaching an intraday high of $202.09 and last trading at $200.375.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: Zacks upgraded Crane to Strong Buy, and MarketBeat reports an average rating of Strong Buy with a $242 price target.
• Crane beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $2.05 versus $1.82 expected and revenue of $756.7 million, up 28.1% year over year.

Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $198.26 and traded as high as $202.09. Crane shares last traded at $200.3750, with a volume of 282,046 shares changing hands.

Crane News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Crane this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Crane from “Hold” to “Strong Buy,” a potentially supportive analyst signal for the shares. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also included CR on its Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list and in momentum-stock coverage. Separate Zacks articles cited manufacturing activity reaching a three-month high and a possible shift toward cyclical stocks as themes that could favor Crane. These overlapping mentions may reinforce positive sentiment, but they are not separate company-specific catalysts. Zacks Strong Buy stocks article Zacks manufacturing article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CR shares. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Crane in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $253.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crane from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Crane from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 target price on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Crane from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Strong Buy" and an average price target of $242.00.

Crane Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company's 50-day moving average price is $202.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.26.

Crane (NYSE:CR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $756.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $737.08 million. Crane had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 19.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crane will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.2550 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 30th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Crane's payout ratio is presently 17.53%.

Insider Transactions at Crane

In other Crane news, Director James Tullis sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.38, for a total value of $82,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,031,212.98. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Crane by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 845,961 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $144,622,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Crane by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 361,270 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $61,777,000 after purchasing an additional 71,086 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Crane by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 263,166 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $45,001,000 after purchasing an additional 19,247 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Crane by 1,652.8% in the first quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 223,238 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $38,174,000 after acquiring an additional 210,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crane by 4.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 202,863 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,689,000 after buying an additional 8,299 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Crane Company Profile

Crane Company NYSE: CR is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and manufactures highly engineered products for aerospace, industrial, commercial and other specialized markets. The company serves customers worldwide through businesses focused on mission-critical components, systems and services.

Its Aerospace & Electronics segment supplies products such as sensing and control systems, aircraft components, power-management equipment and other electronic solutions for commercial and military aerospace applications.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.