Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) Stock Falls 8.3% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Crawford & Company shares fell 8.3% to approximately $11.18, on trading volume 78% below the average session volume.
• Zacks Research downgraded the stock from “Strong Buy” to “Hold,” leaving the company with a consensus analyst rating of Hold.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.37 per share versus the $0.30 consensus estimate, but revenue came in below forecasts. Insiders sold more than 1 million shares worth approximately $13.1 million during the quarter.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 8.3% on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $11.39 and last traded at $11.1750. 3,539 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 15,763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Crawford & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Crawford & Company Stock Down 7.4%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $548.56 million, a P/E ratio of 23.51 and a beta of 0.63.

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.07. Crawford & Company had a return on equity of 28.15% and a net margin of 1.81%. The company had revenue of $321.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $325.39 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Crawford & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Crawford & Company

In other news, 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 transaction of $12,810,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,447,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,968,478.28. This trade represents a 18.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Andrew Bart sold 3,305 shares of the business'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 directly owned 86,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,154,237.20. The trade was a 3.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,020,093 shares of company stock valued at $13,075,773. Corporate 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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