Raymond James & Associates Cuts Stock Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Raymond James & Associates cut its holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) by 30.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,821 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 19,392 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.08% of Lear worth $5,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 0.8% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,434,808 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,009,562,000 after purchasing an additional 66,914 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lear by 6.2% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,864,149 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $821,570,000 after purchasing an additional 401,070 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,645,810 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $675,747,000 after purchasing an additional 20,874 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Lear by 47.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,064,807 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $437,259,000 after purchasing an additional 993,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lear by 0.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,463,244 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $351,234,000 after purchasing an additional 12,072 shares in the last quarter. 99.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LEA shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Lear from $143.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lear from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. 888 reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Lear in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 11,260 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.50, for a total value of $1,559,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 16,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,318,490. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 11,260 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.50, for a total transaction of $1,559,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 16,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,318,490. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alicia J. Davis sold 1,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.62, for a total value of $201,021.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $483,175.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,871 shares of company stock worth $3,174,001. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lear Price Performance

LEA opened at $126.13 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $131.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.91. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $114.67 and a 12-month high of $158.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.53.

Lear (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The auto parts company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.60 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 1.96%. Lear’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 11.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 43.63%.

Lear Company Profile

(Get Rating)

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.