Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd reduced its position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 20,485 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Crown were worth $3,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Crown by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Crown by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Steph & Co. grew its position in Crown by 151.3% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 3,144 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Crown by 245.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 62,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,784,000 after purchasing an additional 44,630 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in Crown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crown Stock Down 1.1 %

CCK opened at $78.59 on Wednesday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.61 and a fifty-two week high of $96.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.90 and its 200 day moving average is $82.71. The stock has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.91.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.19). Crown had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 25.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Crown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Crown’s payout ratio is 26.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Crown from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Crown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.21.

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.