Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 12,379 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 2.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 467,863 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,379 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $51,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $842,054,000 after acquiring an additional 526,763 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 238,964 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lear by 1.0% in the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $207,506,000 after buying an additional 17,820 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Lear by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $187,046,000 after buying an additional 206,822 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lear Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $97.84 on Friday. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $92.14 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. 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 50 day simple moving average of $101.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.68. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.46.

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. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on LEA. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen decreased 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. Barclays lowered Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.