CareTrust REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRE) Raises Dividend to $0.34 Per Share

CareTrust REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.335 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.65%. This is a 15.5% increase from CareTrust REIT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

CareTrust REIT has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.4% annually over the last three years. CareTrust REIT has a payout ratio of 75.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect CareTrust REIT to earn $1.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.1%.

CareTrust REIT Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CTRE opened at $28.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.82 and a quick ratio of 3.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.65. CareTrust REIT has a 12 month low of $23.26 and a 12 month high of $33.15.

CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). CareTrust REIT had a return on equity of 5.59% and a net margin of 42.22%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CareTrust REIT will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTRE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of CareTrust REIT from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of CareTrust REIT in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on CareTrust REIT from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on CareTrust REIT from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CareTrust REIT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

CareTrust REIT Company Profile

CareTrust REIT, Inc’s (CareTrust REIT or the Company) primary business consists of acquiring, financing, developing and owning real property to be leased to third-party tenants in the healthcare sector. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned directly or through a joint venture and leased to independent operators, 228 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), multi-service campuses, assisted living facilities (ALFs) and independent living facilities (ILFs) consisting of 24,189 operational beds and units located in 29 states with the highest concentration of properties by rental income located in California and Texas.