Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Crown (NYSE:CCK) Stock Price

Crown (NYSE:CCK) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $88.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.38.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of CCK stock opened at $80.02 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.79, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.86. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $98.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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

Crown Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,970,007.78. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of Crown stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 563,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCK. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,051,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Crown by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,095,382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,511,000 after acquiring an additional 176,959 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the fourth quarter valued at about $348,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown by 84.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Crown by 3.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 941,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,949,000 after purchasing an additional 32,909 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Crown

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.