Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Crown (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 2,316 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,498 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Crown by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,556,000 after buying an additional 749,085 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Crown by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,779,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $477,923,000 after purchasing an additional 102,789 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Crown by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $383,559,000 after purchasing an additional 69,260 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,762,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Crown by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,967,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $245,408,000 after buying an additional 283,014 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Stock Performance

Crown stock opened at $87.01 on Friday. Crown has a 1 year low of $70.84 and a 1 year high of $98.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $85.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a PE ratio of 107.42, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.87.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.08. Crown had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. Equities analysts anticipate that Crown will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCK has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho decreased their target price on Crown from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Crown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $109.00 to $105.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.92.

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.