Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Crown (NYSE:CCK) Stock

Crown (NYSE:CCK) had its price target lifted by Citigroup from $110.00 to $111.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

CCK has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho set a $110.00 price target on shares of Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Crown from $105.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.38.

Crown Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Crown stock opened at $80.02 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.77. The stock has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a PE ratio of 98.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Crown has a 12 month low of $69.61 and a 12 month high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. Research analysts predict that Crown will post 6.34 EPS for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 123.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value of $958,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 114,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares in the company, valued at $54,524,572.94. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Crown by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $842,556,000 after acquiring an additional 749,085 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Crown by 7.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $544,301,000 after purchasing an additional 412,973 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Crown by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $383,559,000 after buying an additional 69,260 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its stake in Crown by 153.0% in the second quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,289,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,697,000 after buying an additional 1,989,374 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown by 4.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,061,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,242,000 after buying an additional 82,764 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Company Profile

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.