M.D. Sass LLC Sells 190,577 Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

M.D. Sass LLC reduced its position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 677,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 190,577 shares during the period. Crown accounts for about 4.2% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Crown were worth $55,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Crown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $351,000. Walnut Level Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter valued at $4,134,000. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Crown in the 4th quarter worth $310,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Crown during the 4th quarter worth $6,498,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Crown during the 4th quarter valued at about $550,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho dropped their price target on Crown from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America cut their target price on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.00.

Crown Stock Performance

Shares of CCK stock opened at $88.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.40 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.84 and a 52-week high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.08. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. On average, equities analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This is an increase from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is 29.21%.

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.