The Dividend Daily

The price target for Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR) was raised at Credit Suisse on Friday. The firm also increased IR’s earnings estimates.

The analysts at Credit Suisse now see shares of IR reaching $51, a +5.8% increase to Thursday’s closing price of $48.20. The firm maintains an “Outperform” rating for Ingersoll-Rand.

Credit Suisse also boosted earnings estimates due to positive expectations of future margins.

Ingersoll-Rand shares were flat in premarket trading on Friday. The stock is up +58.19% year-to-date.

Ingersoll-Rand is a highly diversified, Ireland-based company that focuses on products and services that enhances air flow in homes and buildings, protects food and other perishables in climate controlled transportation, and secures homes and commercial properties. During the most recent quarter IR earned a net income of $321.6 million on $3.59 billion in revenues.

Ingersoll-Rand Dividend in Focus

Ingersoll-Rand has paid out a dividend of 64 cents per share over the past 12 months, which is a dividend yield of 1.33% based on Thursday’s closing price of $48.20. After a small dip in dividend payout in the middle of 2009, IR’s has steadily increased its dividend each year. The company last raised is quarterly dividend payout in March of 2012 to 16 cents per share, an increase of 4 cents from the previous quarterly distribution. Ingersoll-Rand’s next dividend of 16 cents per share will trade ex-dividend later this month on December 12 with a pay date of December 28 (view the Dividend.com Ex-Dividend Tool for information on all upcoming ex-dividend dates).

Recent Ingersoll-Rand dividends include:

• March 30, 2012: $0.16
• June 29, 2012: $0.16
• September 28, 2012 $0.16
• December 28, 2012 $0.16

Due to the cut in dividend payment in 2009, Ingersoll-Rand’s dividend payout ratio dropped accordingly in 2010. However, the ratio bounced back in 2011:

Ingersoll-Rand vs. The Competition

Dividend.com has identified several stocks that are in the same sector as Ingersoll-Rand, including Illinois Tool Works  (ITW), Flowserve  (FLS), and Nordson Corporation  (NDSN). Ingeroll-Rand’s dividend yield seems to be in line with its competition, however Illinois Tool Works offers a higher yield of 2.47%.

Use the Dividend.com screener to see all dividend-paying diversified machinery stocks, or run other custom searches for dividend-paying stocks.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.