Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives $160.78 Average PT from Brokerages

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $160.78.

LEA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lear from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 13th.

Lear Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:LEA opened at $116.23 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Lear has a 12 month low of $113.14 and a 12 month high of $157.90. The company has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.88.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.14. Lear had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 14.47%. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Lear will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $159,174.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.86, for a total value of $296,273.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $159,174.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lear during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,611,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Lear by 970.4% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 540,850 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $76,373,000 after purchasing an additional 490,324 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Lear by 236.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $77,526,000 after purchasing an additional 405,875 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Lear by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 981,669 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $138,595,000 after purchasing an additional 391,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP grew its holdings in Lear by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $150,796,000 after purchasing an additional 380,771 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Company Profile

Lear Corporation designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, assembles, and supplies automotive seating, and electrical distribution systems and related components for automotive original equipment manufacturers in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Its Seating segment offers seat systems, seat subsystems, keyseat components, seat trim covers, seat mechanisms, seat foams, and headrests, as well as surface materials, such as leather and fabric for automobiles and light trucks, compact cars, pick-up trucks, and sport utility vehicles.