Trexquant Investment LP Raises Holdings in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 351,364 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 76,728 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Crown were worth $29,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,779,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $477,923,000 after purchasing an additional 102,789 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Crown by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,000,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $383,559,000 after acquiring an additional 69,260 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 10,138.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,105,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $256,762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,791 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Crown by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,967,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,408,000 after purchasing an additional 283,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metropolis Capital Ltd raised its stake in Crown by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 2,456,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $203,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,605 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CCK. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Crown from $113.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Crown from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on Crown from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Crown from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.00.

Crown Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CCK opened at $89.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.39 and its 200 day moving average is $89.44. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.84 and a 52 week high of $98.46.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.08. Crown had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 25.12%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Crown’s payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

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.