Crown (NYSE:CCK) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Crown (NYSE:CCK) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $105.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $109.00.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Crown from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Loop Capital raised their price target on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.62.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE:CCK opened at $84.64 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Crown has a 1 year low of $69.61 and a 1 year high of $98.46.

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

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Crown’s payout ratio is currently 123.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown

In other news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 563,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,524,572.94. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCK. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA lifted its holdings in Crown by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA now owns 57,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Crown by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Crown by 3.8% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Crown by 6.7% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,539 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.