Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) Sees Large Volume Increase - What's Next?

Key Points

• Crawford & Company shares rose 9.0% to about $12.31, while trading volume surged 292% to approximately 53,040 shares.
• Zacks Research upgraded the stock from “hold” to “strong buy,” giving Crawford a consensus “Strong Buy” rating. The company also reported quarterly EPS of $0.38, exceeding estimates of $0.27, though revenue fell short of forecasts.
• Insiders sold more than 1.02 million shares worth approximately $13.1 million over the past three months, including a major shareholder’s sale of 1 million shares.

Shares of Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 53,040 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 292% from the previous session's volume of 13,531 shares.The stock last traded at $12.3090 and had previously closed at $11.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Crawford & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Strong Buy".

Crawford & Company Trading Up 9.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $11.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $598.39 million, a PE ratio of 25.62 and a beta of 0.64.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.11. Crawford & Company had a return on equity of 28.15% and a net margin of 1.81%.The firm had revenue of $321.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.09 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crawford & Company will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crawford & Company

In other news, EVP Andrew Bart sold 3,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.36, for a total transaction of $44,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 86,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,237.20. This trade represents a 3.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jesse C. Crawford sold 1,000,000 shares of Crawford & Company stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total value of $12,810,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,447,188 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,968,478.28. This represents a 18.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,020,093 shares of company stock worth $13,075,773 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 51.04% of the company's stock.

About Crawford & Company

Crawford & Company is a global provider of independent claims management and related services for the insurance and risk management industries. The company supports insurers, brokers, corporations, and government entities with services that span the claims lifecycle, including loss adjusting, claims administration, third-party administration, and claims management technology.

Its offerings cover property and casualty claims, workers' compensation, automobile claims, transportation-related losses, specialty claims, and legal settlement services.

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