Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 31,506 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 31,506 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,984,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lear by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 467,863 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $51,067,000 after purchasing an additional 12,379 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Lear by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 20,948 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,967 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Lear by 405.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,356 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,606,000 after acquiring an additional 41,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Lear by 23.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,701 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,423 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lear news, Director Rod Lache acquired 2,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $91.80 per share, for a total transaction of $199,940.40. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,940.40. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LEA. Barclays dropped their price target on Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lear from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Cowen lowered Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.36.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $87.82 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.44. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.28 and a fifty-two week high of $145.35.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.45%.

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.