Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Announces $0.77 Quarterly Dividend

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.77 per share by the auto parts company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th.

Lear has increased its dividend payment by an average of 44.5% annually over the last three years. Lear has a payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lear to earn $13.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA stock opened at $97.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $102.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.78. Lear has a fifty-two week low of $92.14 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. Lear’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. Analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LEA shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.25.

About Lear

Lear Corporation designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, assembles, and supplies automotive seating, and electrical distribution systems and related components for automotive original equipment manufacturers in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Its Seating segment offers seat systems, seat subsystems, keyseat components, seat trim covers, seat mechanisms, seat foams, and headrests, as well as surface materials, such as leather and fabric for automobiles and light trucks, compact cars, pick-up trucks, and sport utility vehicles.