Ameriprise Financial Inc. Has $20.78 Million Stock Position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 251,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 15,899 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Crown were worth $20,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its position in Crown by 68.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Crown by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 812,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,183,000 after purchasing an additional 8,739 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Crown in the 4th quarter worth about $255,000. Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Crown in the 4th quarter worth about $604,000. Finally, Iridian Asset Management LLC CT increased its position in Crown by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 222,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,381,000 after purchasing an additional 26,443 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Crown

In other Crown news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $679,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 135,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,096,358. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CCK. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Crown from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Crown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays increased their target price on Crown from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.45.

Crown Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CCK opened at $99.58 on Friday. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.84 and a 12-month high of $100.17. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $89.55 and a 200-day moving average of $88.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88.

Crown (NYSE:CCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.45. Crown had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 3.59%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Crown’s payout ratio is 22.37%.

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.