AXQ Capital LP Purchases New Holdings in Crane $CR

AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Crane (NYSE:CR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,463 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,376,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in shares of Crane by 314.8% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 74,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,774,000 after acquiring an additional 56,768 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crane by 8.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 489,810 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $90,196,000 after acquiring an additional 37,026 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Crane by 44.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 183,787 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,843,000 after acquiring an additional 56,324 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Crane in the third quarter worth $3,709,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Crane by 23.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 33,480 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,165,000 after buying an additional 6,258 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Crane from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Crane in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crane presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $226.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In related news, Director Susan D. Lynch purchased 150 shares of Crane stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $177.38 per share, for a total transaction of $26,607.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 370 shares in the company, valued at $65,630.60. This trade represents a 68.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Crane Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CR opened at $182.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.15. Crane has a fifty-two week low of $159.58 and a fifty-two week high of $214.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $178.55 and a 200-day moving average of $186.93.

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

Crane Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Crane’s payout ratio is 18.35%.

Crane Company Profile

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.