Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.12

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 3rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share by the blue-jean maker on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th.

Levi Strauss & Co. has increased its dividend payment by an average of 44.2% annually over the last three years. Levi Strauss & Co. has a payout ratio of 32.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Levi Strauss & Co. to earn $1.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.9%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:LEVI opened at $22.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.52, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12 month low of $12.41 and a 12 month high of $22.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.19.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 20.68% and a net margin of 2.05%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.23, for a total value of $265,375.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 187,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,794.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 85,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.06, for a total transaction of $1,896,829.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David A. Friedman sold 12,500 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.23, for a total value of $265,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 187,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,794.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 267,212 shares of company stock worth $5,437,220 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEVI has been the topic of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.56.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.