Crane (NYSE:CR) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.23 Per Share

Crane (NYSE:CR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.23 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is an increase from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Crane has a payout ratio of 13.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Crane to earn $8.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.82 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Crane Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Crane stock traded down $5.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $156.35. The stock had a trading volume of 521,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,233. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. Crane has a 12-month low of $110.49 and a 12-month high of $188.52.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Crane from $176.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Crane from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Crane from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.80.

Crane Company Profile

Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials.