Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Short Interest Up 21.7% in December

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,480,000 shares, a growth of 21.7% from the November 30th total of 3,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CCK. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Barclays upped their price target on Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $110.00 price target on Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Crown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crown presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.00, for a total value of $697,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 571,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,119,554. This represents a 1.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total transaction of $958,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,381,875 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Crown by 110.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Crown by 156.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Crown in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown during the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Crown in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:CCK traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $82.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 540,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,149,561. Crown has a 52-week low of $69.61 and a 52-week high of $98.46. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.21 and a 200-day moving average of $87.62.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 123.46%.

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.