Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Short Interest Update

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) saw a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, an increase of 15.1% from the October 31st total of 2,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Crown from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Mizuho set a $110.00 price target on shares of Crown in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.62.

Crown Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Crown stock traded down $0.93 on Friday, hitting $92.09. 420,081 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,093,787. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.85. Crown has a one year low of $69.61 and a one year high of $98.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.13. 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 (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Crown had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 123.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Crown news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.58, for a total transaction of $679,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,678 shares in the company, valued at $52,416,653.24. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.89, for a total value of $958,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,402 shares in the company, valued at $10,970,007.78. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Crown by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Crown in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Crown by 172.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 608 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Crown during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. 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.