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

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 8th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the blue-jean maker on Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th.

Levi Strauss & Co. has increased its dividend by an average of 24.4% annually over the last three years. Levi Strauss & Co. has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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. Stock Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.03. The company had a trading volume of 3,760,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,166,498. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $16.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.41. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52 week low of $12.17 and a 52 week high of $24.34.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LEVI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Levi Strauss & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.18.

Insider Transactions at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $76,821.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,012 shares in the company, valued at $1,844,221.28. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.25% of the company's stock.

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.