Raymond James Trust N.A. Boosts Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,662 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Lear were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $116,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,200 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Lear by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 504,091 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 300,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lear by 9.5% during the second 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 buying an additional 238,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays cut shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.25.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock opened at $96.80 on Wednesday. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $92.14 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.46.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.39%.

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.