iSAM Funds UK Ltd Lowers Stake in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

iSAM Funds UK Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,463 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd’s holdings in Crown were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 68.7% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Crown by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 812,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,183,000 after purchasing an additional 8,739 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown during the fourth quarter valued at about $255,000. Washington Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown in the 4th quarter valued at about $604,000. Finally, Iridian Asset Management LLC CT boosted its holdings in shares of Crown by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 222,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,381,000 after buying an additional 26,443 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total value of $679,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 135,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,096,358. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.41, for a total value of $211,743.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $447,345. This represents a 32.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of CCK opened at $99.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.55. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.84 and a 1-year high of $100.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on CCK shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Crown from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.45.

Crown 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.