Short Interest in Crane (NYSE:CR) Rises By 19.0%

Crane (NYSE:CR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 675,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the May 15th total of 567,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 215,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Crane

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Crane by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 126,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,913,000 after purchasing an additional 62,613 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Crane by 143.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,387,000 after purchasing an additional 68,795 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its position in shares of Crane by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,322,850 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $156,282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Crane in the fourth quarter valued at about $90,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Crane by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,095,540 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $247,567,000 after purchasing an additional 79,710 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Crane from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $157.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Vertical Research raised shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Crane from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crane presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.67.

Crane Stock Performance

Shares of CR stock opened at $141.61 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.87. Crane has a 12 month low of $78.83 and a 12 month high of $150.01.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $565.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $546.39 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.98%.

About Crane

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.