Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 765,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,979 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Crown were worth $63,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCK. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown by 11.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 73,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,062,000 after acquiring an additional 7,319 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Crown by 369.0% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 39,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,798,000 after acquiring an additional 31,164 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crown in the 3rd quarter worth about $468,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Crown by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 9,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Crown by 672.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 111,426 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,557,000 after purchasing an additional 97,006 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Crown Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Crown stock opened at $88.19 on Friday. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.84 and a 12-month high of $98.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The company has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $88.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.45.

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

Crown Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on CCK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Crown from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Crown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Crown from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.00.

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.