Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) Raises Dividend to $1.50 Per Share

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 1.50 per share on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Eli Lilly and Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30.

Eli Lilly and Company has increased its dividend by an average of 15.2% annually over the last three years. Eli Lilly and Company has a dividend payout ratio of 23.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eli Lilly and Company to earn $23.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.0%.

Eli Lilly and Company Price Performance

Shares of LLY stock opened at $800.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $841.04 and its 200-day moving average is $871.97. Eli Lilly and Company has a 1 year low of $561.65 and a 1 year high of $972.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $760.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.58, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.41.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.34). Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The business had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and Company will post 13.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LLY shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,000.00 to $1,033.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $885.00 price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,000.00 price target for the company. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $884.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,002.22.

Eli Lilly and Company announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, December 9th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total transaction of $723,042.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,402,522.40. This represents a 14.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eli Lilly and Company Company Profile

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity.