Wells Fargo & Company Trims Crown (NYSE:CCK) Target Price to $76.00

Crown (NYSE:CCK) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on CCK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Crown from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a neutral rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Crown in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Crown from $110.00 to $97.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Crown in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $99.21.

Crown Price Performance

CCK opened at $77.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.92 and a 200 day moving average of $83.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.15. Crown has a fifty-two week low of $69.61 and a fifty-two week high of $96.35.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Crown had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 25.75%. Crown’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Crown will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Crown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Crown by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,825,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,089,029,000 after purchasing an additional 173,460 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Crown by 6.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,052,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $583,332,000 after acquiring an additional 410,225 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Crown by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,136,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $473,039,000 after acquiring an additional 350,265 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Crown by 8.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,776,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $334,109,000 after acquiring an additional 298,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Crown by 55.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,709,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $322,218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323,107 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Company 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.