Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives $153.56 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $153.56.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LEA shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,200 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Lear by 15.2% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lear in the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,611,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 490,324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $113.74 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $115.76 and a 200 day moving average of $126.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lear has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $147.52. The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.47.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.59%.

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.