Crane (NYSE:CR) Declares $0.21 Quarterly Dividend

Crane (NYSE:CR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.205 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Crane has decreased its dividend by an average of 16.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Crane has a dividend payout ratio of 14.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 5.8 %

Shares of CR stock opened at $138.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $130.01 and a 200-day moving average of $115.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Crane has a 12-month low of $67.28 and a 12-month high of $139.54. The company has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $565.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.39 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Crane from $110.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Crane from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.40.

About Crane

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.