Crane Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.23 (NYSE:CR)

Crane (NYSE:CR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 28th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.23 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th.

Crane has a dividend payout ratio of 15.0% 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 $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.7%.

Crane Trading Up 6.5 %

NYSE CR opened at $158.29 on Wednesday. Crane has a 52 week low of $127.04 and a 52 week high of $188.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $150.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.06. 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 $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. Crane had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 13.10%. The company had revenue of $557.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $546.93 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Crane from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Crane from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Crane in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Crane and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Crane from $170.00 to $144.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crane

In other news, VP Alejandro Alcala sold 2,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.96, for a total transaction of $392,011.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,635,354.48. This represents a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

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.