Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Crown (NYSE:CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 2,316 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,498 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Crown

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Crown by 21.4% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Crown in the 2nd quarter valued at $457,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Crown during the 3rd quarter worth $1,203,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Crown by 7.4% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 29,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown by 110.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on CCK. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Crown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Crown from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Crown from $107.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.46.

Crown Stock Performance

NYSE:CCK traded up $1.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $87.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 542,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,327,941. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $70.84 and a fifty-two week high of $98.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.66 and its 200-day moving average is $89.23. The firm has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.87.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued 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 net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 24.57%. Equities analysts anticipate that Crown will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.