Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Crawford & Company shares opened sharply lower, falling from a prior close of $12.19 to $11.01; they were last trading at $11.0950 in the article.
• The company beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.37 versus analysts’ $0.30 estimate, but revenue of $321.63 million fell short of the $325.39 million consensus.
• Zacks Research downgraded the stock from “strong buy” to “hold,” while insiders sold about 1.02 million shares worth roughly $13.1 million over the prior 90 days.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday. The stock had previously closed at $12.19, but opened at $11.01. Crawford & Company shares last traded at $11.0950, with a volume of 5,159 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Zacks Research lowered shares of Crawford & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

Crawford & Company Trading Up 2.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $543.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.77.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.07. Crawford & Company had a return on equity of 29.46% and a net margin of 2.01%. The firm had revenue of $321.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $325.39 million. On average, research analysts expect that Crawford & Company will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Crawford & Company

In related news, EVP Andrew Bart sold 3,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.36, for a total value of $44,154.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jesse C. Crawford sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total transaction of $12,810,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,447,188 shares in the company, valued at $56,968,478.28. This represents a 18.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,020,093 shares of company stock valued at $13,075,773. Company insiders own 51.04% of the company's stock.

Crawford & Company Company Profile

Crawford & Company NYSE: CRD.B is a global provider of claims management and related outsourcing services for the insurance industry. The company works with insurers, brokers, corporations and government entities to manage property and casualty claims throughout the claims life cycle.

Its services include loss adjusting, claims administration, catastrophe response, third-party claims management, workers' compensation services, medical management and related consulting and technology solutions.

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