Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of a large 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. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown news, CEO Timothy J. Donahue sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,416,653.24. The trade was a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,970,007.78. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,506 shares of company stock worth $3,157,399 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Crown by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,787,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,556,000 after acquiring an additional 749,085 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Crown by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $544,301,000 after purchasing an additional 412,973 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Crown by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $383,559,000 after purchasing an additional 69,260 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 153.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,289,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,061,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,242,000 after purchasing an additional 82,764 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE CCK traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.03. 853,958 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,076,995. Crown has a 52 week low of $69.61 and a 52 week high of $98.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.24. The company has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a PE ratio of 113.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.84. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 0.83%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Crown’s payout ratio is 123.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Crown from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Crown from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho set a $110.00 target price on Crown in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Crown from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three investment 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, Crown currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.62.

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.