Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Position in Crane $CR

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 117.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,314 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 116,881 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.38% of Crane worth $41,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Crane by 1.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 100,435 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management increased its position in shares of Crane by 3.1% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,933 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Crane by 1.3% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 127,463 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $24,204,000 after buying an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Crane by 19.6% in the second quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 5,512 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,404,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Crane from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Crane from $200.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Crane in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson set a $235.00 target price on Crane in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Crane in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.60.

Crane Stock Performance

CR stock opened at $182.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Crane has a 1 year low of $127.04 and a 1 year high of $203.89. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.91.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%.The business had revenue of $589.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Crane has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.750-5.950 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Crane’s payout ratio is presently 14.74%.

Crane Company Profile

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.