Crane (NYSE:CR) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Crane (NYSE:CR – Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on CR. Weiss Ratings cut Crane from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $255.00 price target on Crane in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 price target on Crane in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Crane in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $253.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Crane from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Crane presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and an average price target of $242.00.

Read Our Latest Research Report on CR

Crane Stock Performance

CR stock opened at $198.27 on Wednesday. Crane has a one year low of $159.58 and a one year high of $230.50. The firm has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.29.

Crane (NYSE:CR – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.23. Crane had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 19.17%. The firm had revenue of $756.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $737.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. Crane’s revenue was up 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crane news, Director James Tullis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.38, for a total transaction of $82,152.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,212.98. This trade represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crane

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new position in shares of Crane during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,229,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Crane in the second quarter valued at about $3,496,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Crane in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,063,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Crane in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,771,000. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its position in Crane by 11.2% in the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 70,314 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,346,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Crane News

Here are the key news stories impacting Crane this week:

Crane Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Crane Company (NYSE: CR) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and manufactures highly engineered products for aerospace, industrial, commercial and other specialized markets. The company serves customers worldwide through businesses focused on mission-critical components, systems and services.

Its Aerospace & Electronics segment supplies products such as sensing and control systems, aircraft components, power-management equipment and other electronic solutions for commercial and military aerospace applications.

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Analyst Recommendations for Crane (NYSE:CR)

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