Westpac Banking Corp Purchases Shares of 4,914 Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CCK. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Crown by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 416 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Crown by 84.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Crown by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Crown during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Trading Down 6.3 %

CCK stock opened at $83.10 on Friday. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $70.84 and a one year high of $98.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Crown from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Crown from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Crown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.00.

Crown Company Profile

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.