Crane (NYSE:CR) Short Interest Up 45.4% in October

Crane (NYSE:CR) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 620,300 shares, a growth of 45.4% from the October 15th total of 426,600 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 217,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CR. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Crane from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.33.

Crane Price Performance

CR traded down $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $173.50. The stock had a trading volume of 121,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.85 and a 200-day moving average of $151.35. Crane has a one year low of $102.80 and a one year high of $180.87. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.81.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $597.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $594.45 million. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Crane’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CR. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Crane by 103.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,348,451 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $182,216,000 after buying an additional 685,230 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Crane during the second quarter worth about $21,159,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crane in the second quarter worth about $16,205,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Crane during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,062,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Crane by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 655,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $103,748,000 after purchasing an additional 91,029 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.