Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target Lowered to $132.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $139.00 to $132.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

LEA has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Lear from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the company from $150.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut Lear from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lear from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $160.00.

Lear Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $114.89 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.42. Lear has a 12-month low of $113.14 and a 12-month high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Lear will post 14.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.86, for a total transaction of $296,273.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Lear news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were 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. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lear by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,023,195 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $872,640,000 after purchasing an additional 109,746 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Lear by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,179,175 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $307,721,000 after buying an additional 153,282 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Lear by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares in the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its holdings in Lear by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $150,796,000 after buying an additional 380,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Lear by 4.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,023,165 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $148,216,000 after buying an additional 41,496 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Lear

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.