New York State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 5,255 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,949 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,255 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Lear were worth $4,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Lear during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lear in the first quarter valued at $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lear by 70.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 240.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Lear by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $95.90 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.97. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $94.57 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Lear from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.08.

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.