Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stock Position in Crane $CR

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) by 89.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 135,475 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,848 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Crane were worth $23,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Crane by 27.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,060 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,749 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Crane by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 440,817 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $67,524,000 after buying an additional 84,278 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Crane by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 136,776 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $20,951,000 after buying an additional 4,217 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Crane by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,696 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crane during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Crane from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Crane in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In other Crane news, Director Susan D. Lynch bought 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $177.38 per share, for a total transaction of $26,607.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,630.60. The trade was a 68.18% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Crane Stock Performance

CR stock opened at $219.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.88. Crane has a 52 week low of $159.58 and a 52 week high of $226.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.21. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%.The business had revenue of $696.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $672.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crane has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.650-6.850 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crane Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.35%.

About Crane

Crane Co, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is a diversified manufacturer of engineered industrial products serving customers around the world. The company operates through two primary segments: Aerospace & Electronics and Engineered Materials. Its Aerospace & Electronics division designs and produces valves, fittings, manifolds, and filtration systems for aircraft fuel, hydraulics, and environmental control systems. The Engineered Materials segment focuses on advanced polymers, heat exchangers, and specialized composite solutions for industries including chemical processing, semiconductor manufacturing, and power generation.

With roots dating back to its founding in 1855 in Chicago by R.T.