Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $106.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on CCK. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Crown from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut their target price on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Crown from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,791 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Crown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,568,000. Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Crown by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 2,456,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $203,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,605 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crown in the 4th quarter valued at $66,732,000. Finally, Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Crown by 450.5% during the fourth quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 823,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,027,000 after buying an additional 674,072 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of CCK stock opened at $83.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. Crown has a 1 year low of $70.84 and a 1 year high of $98.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.37.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.08. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. On average, research analysts predict that Crown will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Crown’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

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.