Lear Co. (LEA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 on March 26th

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th, RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th.

Lear has increased its dividend payment by an average of 20.3% per year over the last three years. Lear has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lear to earn $14.97 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 20.6%.

Lear Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $91.51 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.78. 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 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lear will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Lear from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.09.

Lear Company Profile

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.