Levi Strauss & Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (NYSE:LEVI)

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the blue-jean maker on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th.

Levi Strauss & Co. has increased its dividend by an average of 24.4% per year over the last three years. Levi Strauss & Co. has a payout ratio of 36.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Levi Strauss & Co. to earn $1.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of LEVI stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $18.65. The company had a trading volume of 2,906,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,231,940. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.62 and a fifty-two week high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company's fifty day moving average is $17.61 and its 200 day moving average is $18.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 35.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.16.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 25.88%. Research analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEVI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group dropped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $74,988.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 104,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,875,204. The trade was a 3.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co engages in the design, marketing, and sale of apparel products. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded by Levi Strauss in 1853 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.