Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 14,200 Crane $CR

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Crane (NYSE:CR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 14,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,428,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CR. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Crane during the first quarter valued at approximately $504,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Crane by 89.1% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 135,475 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $23,166,000 after buying an additional 63,848 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Crane by 61.8% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 248,087 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $42,423,000 after buying an additional 94,780 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Crane by 92.7% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 113,556 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $21,198,000 after acquiring an additional 54,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Crane by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 21,077 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,887,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Crane Price Performance

NYSE CR opened at $220.48 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 12-month low of $159.58 and a 12-month high of $226.46.

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

Crane Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crane news, Director Susan D. Lynch purchased 150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $177.38 per share, with a total value of $26,607.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 370 shares in the company, valued at $65,630.60. The trade was a 68.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

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.