Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) by 115.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,555 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Crown were worth $592,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 416 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 88.0% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Crown by 325.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CCK shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Crown from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Crown from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Crown from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Crown from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Crown from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown news, COO Gerard H. Gifford sold 7,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 135,014 shares in the company, valued at $13,096,358. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Christy L. Kalaus sold 2,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.41, for a total transaction of $211,743.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $447,345. This trade represents a 32.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Crown Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of CCK stock opened at $100.64 on Tuesday. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.84 and a 12 month high of $101.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.13.

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

Crown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Crown’s dividend payout ratio is 22.37%.

Crown Company 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.