MML Investors Services LLC Acquires 468 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) by 13.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,863 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 6.2% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,864,149 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $821,570,000 after acquiring an additional 401,070 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lear by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,532,044 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $788,815,000 after acquiring an additional 32,169 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Lear by 47.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,064,807 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $437,259,000 after acquiring an additional 993,216 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Lear by 0.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,463,244 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $351,234,000 after acquiring an additional 12,072 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Lear by 4.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,105,204 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $251,972,000 after acquiring an additional 92,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 6,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.59, for a total value of $783,657.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,135,856.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 11,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.39, for a total value of $1,547,148.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,846,920. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 6,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.59, for a total value of $783,657.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,135,856.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,060 shares of company stock worth $3,705,593 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Lear from $143.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. TheStreet raised Lear from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Cowen boosted their price target on Lear from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.38.

Lear Price Performance

Lear stock opened at $140.40 on Wednesday. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $114.67 and a 52-week high of $158.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $137.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.53.

Lear (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The auto parts company reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.27. Lear had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 1.57%. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. Lear’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.31%.

About Lear

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Lear Corp. engages in the design, manufacture and supply of automotive seats, electrical distribution systems and electronic modules, as well as related sub-systems, components, and software. It operates through the following segments: Seating and E-Systems. The Seating segment consists of the design, engineering, just-in-time assembly and delivery of complete seat systems, as well as the manufacture of all major seat components, including seat covers and surface materials such as leather and fabric, seat structures and mechanisms, seat foam and headrests.