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

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of 0.77 per share by the auto parts company on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%.

Lear has raised its dividend payment by an average of 20.3% annually over the last three years. Lear has a payout ratio of 20.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lear to earn $15.14 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 20.3%.

Lear Stock Up 0.2 %

LEA stock opened at $96.47 on Friday. Lear has a twelve month low of $86.28 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.20.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lear will post 13.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.00.

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.