Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 20,241 Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its holdings in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 260,145 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 20,241 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Crown were worth $21,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% in 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crown during the 4th quarter valued at $113,568,000. Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new position in Crown in the 4th quarter worth about $66,732,000. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Crown by 379.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 687,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,870,000 after buying an additional 544,246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CCK. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Crown from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Crown from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.00.

Crown Price Performance

Shares of Crown stock opened at $88.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.84 and a 12 month high of $98.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.45.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.08. Crown had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 25.12%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This is an increase from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Crown’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.

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.