O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Sells 81 Shares of Crane (NYSE:CR)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,577 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Crane were worth $1,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Crane in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Crane by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Crane in the third quarter worth $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Crane by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 583 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crane in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In other Crane news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total value of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,635,354.48. This trade represents a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CR. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crane has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.80.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of CR opened at $137.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a twelve month low of $128.50 and a twelve month high of $188.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $161.22 and a 200-day moving average of $161.88.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is 18.18%.

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.