Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $142.75.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LEA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lear from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Lear Stock Up 0.5 %

LEA opened at $98.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.44. Lear has a one year low of $97.51 and a one year high of $147.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $109.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.58.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. 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 worth $116,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lear by 36.9% during the second 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 period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Lear by 115.4% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $64,083,000 after acquiring an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lear by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after acquiring an additional 238,964 shares during the period. 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.