Levi Strauss Raises Quarterly Dividend 14.3% to $0.16

Levi Strauss & Co. raised its quarterly dividend 14.3% to $0.16 a share from $0.14. The shares traded ex-dividend on July 22, 2026, and the new rate represents an annual dividend of $0.64 a share.

Why the dividend changed

Levi Strauss tied the increase to stronger operating performance and cash generation. Chief Financial and Growth Officer Harmit Singh said the higher dividend reflected management’s confidence in the business, cash flow generation and capacity to create long-term shareholder value. The declaration accompanied fiscal second-quarter results showing reported revenue growth of 8%, organic revenue growth of 6% and an operating margin of 7.8%, compared with 7.5% a year earlier. Gross margin expanded to 62.7%, despite pressure from tariffs and foreign exchange. Levi Strauss second-quarter results

The balance sheet also provided room for the increase. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $849 million at the end of the quarter, with total liquidity of approximately $1.8 billion. Inventory declined 7% from a year earlier, an important indicator for an apparel company because excess stock can lead to discounting and weaker cash conversion. Management raised its fiscal 2026 outlook after the quarter, including reported revenue growth guidance of 7.0% to 7.5% and adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance of $1.46 to $1.52. Levi Strauss second-quarter results

The increase also came during a broader reshaping of capital allocation. Levi Strauss completed the sale of Dockers to Authentic Brands Group on February 27, 2026, sharpening its focus on the Levi’s brand and Beyond Yoga. The company said net cash proceeds would be returned through accelerated share repurchases, rather than identifying the sale proceeds as direct funding for the dividend. The dividend increase therefore rested primarily on the continuing business and its cash generation, not on a recurring contribution from Dockers. Levi Strauss Dockers sale announcement

Dividend track record

The latest increase extends Levi Strauss’s dividend-growth streak to 4 consecutive years. Recent payments show a stepwise pattern: the quarterly rate was $0.13 on the October 29, 2024, February 12, 2025, and April 24, 2025, ex-dividend dates. It then rose to $0.14 beginning with the July 24, 2025, ex-dividend date and remained there through April 22, 2026, before moving to $0.16 on July 22, 2026.

Full-year totals reinforce the pattern. Annual dividends increased from $0.48 in 2023 to $0.50 in 2024 and $0.54 in 2025, representing increases of 9.1%, 4.2% and 8.0% for those respective years. The 2021 total rose 62.5% to $0.26, but that comparison includes four payments in 2021 against two payments totaling $0.16 in 2020, making it less useful as a measure of the underlying quarterly rate. The record from 2020 through 2025 contains no annual reduction.

Is the dividend covered?

The dividend consumes 40% of earnings. That leaves most reported earnings outside the dividend, providing capacity for reinvestment, debt service, repurchases and operating volatility. The ratio indicates that the payment is supported by earnings rather than requiring nearly all profit to be distributed.

SmarterDividends gives Levi Strauss a dividend safety score of 75 and rates the dividend B. That score falls within the safe range of 66-79. In plain terms, current earnings coverage and the payment record support the dividend, while the grade stops short of the highest safety category and recognizes the cyclicality of apparel demand.

The company does not maintain a fixed dividend policy. Its board reviews financial condition, operating results, capital needs, projected cash flows and debt restrictions when setting each payment, according to its quarterly filing. That discretion means coverage and liquidity remain more important than the recent growth streak alone. Levi Strauss Form 10-Q

Yield and valuation

At a share price of $19.60, the annual dividend of $0.64 produces a forward yield of 3.26%. That is above the Consumer Cyclical sector median forward yield of 2.66%. An investor holding 100 shares would receive $64.00 in annual income at the current rate, before taxes and assuming the quarterly rate remains unchanged.

SmarterDividends estimates fair value at $45.35 and classifies the shares as undervalued, representing 129% upside to that estimate. The valuation gap sits alongside a 2.3% loss in the share price over the past year. The fair-value estimate is an analytical benchmark, not a forecast of when or whether the market price will close the gap.

What to watch

The next operating test is execution against the raised fiscal 2026 outlook. Investors can track whether direct-to-consumer growth and gross-margin improvement continue to offset tariffs, foreign-exchange movements and consumer pressure. Management’s guidance assumes tariffs on imports from China remain at 30% and tariffs on imports from the rest of the world remain at 20%. Levi Strauss second-quarter results

Capital deployment also bears watching. Levi Strauss expected its $200 million accelerated share-repurchase program to settle in the third quarter and had $240 million remaining under its existing repurchase authorization at the end of the second quarter. Future results will show how management balances those repurchases, investment in the Levi’s and Beyond Yoga businesses, and a quarterly dividend that is now $0.16 a share. Levi Strauss second-quarter results