Short Interest in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Grows By 34.3%

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, a growth of 34.3% from the November 15th total of 2,740,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Insider Transactions at Crown

In related news, Director James H. Miller sold 1,006 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.60, for a total transaction of $96,173.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,424 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,734.40. This represents a 7.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.73, for a total value of $725,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,006 shares of company stock valued at $2,478,049. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Crown by 110.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Crown by 36.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Crown by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Crown by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CCK traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $87.88. The stock had a trading volume of 673,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,137,063. The company’s 50 day moving average is $92.45 and its 200-day moving average is $87.44. Crown has a 12-month low of $69.61 and a 12-month high of $98.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 108.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.83.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.18. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown will post 6.34 EPS for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is 123.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on CCK shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Crown from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $110.00 target price on Crown in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.62.

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.