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

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,720,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the May 31st total of 2,520,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 967,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Crown Price Performance

CCK stock traded down $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.60. 414,700 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,116,001. The company has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.85. Crown has a 52-week low of $69.61 and a 52-week high of $96.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.06. Crown had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 23.95%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Crown will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 13th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $637,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 608,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,737,630. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $637,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 608,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,737,630. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.18, for a total transaction of $1,916,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 616,178 shares in the company, valued at $52,486,042.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,000 shares of company stock worth $3,300,420. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crown

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCK. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Crown in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Crown by 190.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Crown in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $88.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Crown in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Crown from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Crown from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Crown from $101.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.29.

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.