Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 8,937 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 45,998 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 8,937 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $5,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LEA. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the 1st quarter worth about $100,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Lear by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 800 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Lear by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC acquired a new position in Lear during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,900,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP boosted its position in Lear by 63.9% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 5,734 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lear Stock Up 1.6 %

LEA opened at $97.89 on Friday. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $92.14 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is 32.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LEA shares. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays downgraded Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.25.

Lear 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.