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

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid 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 yield of 3.19%.

Lear has raised its dividend payment by an average of 20.3% per year over the last three years. Lear has a payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that 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 Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LEA opened at $96.47 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $95.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42. Lear has a 1-year low of $86.28 and a 1-year 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.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LEA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.