Crown Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 5,233 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 374% compared to the average daily volume of 1,105 put options.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of Crown stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.79. The company had a trading volume of 121,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,124,509. The stock has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.85. Crown has a 1-year low of $69.61 and a 1-year high of $94.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 23.96% and a net margin of 3.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Crown will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 15,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.03, for a total transaction of $1,275,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 593,678 shares in the company, valued at $50,480,440.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $643,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 586,178 shares in the company, valued at $50,323,381.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.03, for a total transaction of $1,275,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 593,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,480,440.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $2,598,675 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its position in Crown by 153.0% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 1,989,374 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Crown in the 1st quarter valued at about $119,167,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown in the fourth quarter worth about $109,826,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown by 121.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 736,478 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,787,000 after purchasing an additional 404,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Crown during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,291,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CCK. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Crown from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Crown from $106.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Crown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Crown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Crown from $112.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.14.

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.