Lear Co. (LEA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 on December 30th

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given 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 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th.

Lear has raised its dividend payment by an average of 44.5% per year over the last three years. Lear has a dividend payout ratio of 22.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lear to earn $13.73 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 22.4%.

Lear Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $99.84 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.45. Lear has a 1 year low of $92.14 and a 1 year high of $147.11. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.37.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEA has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lear has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.