Lear’s (LEA) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Lear (NYSE:LEA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Benchmark in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $188.00 price target on the auto parts company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price indicates a potential upside of 44.88% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $158.00 to $152.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Argus increased their price target on Lear from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lear from $169.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. UBS Group cut their target price on Lear from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.36.

Lear Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $129.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.59. Lear has a 1 year low of $117.79 and a 1 year high of $157.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $136.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.81.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The auto parts company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.26. Lear had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business had revenue of $5.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lear will post 11.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.57, for a total transaction of $416,817.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,134.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Lear news, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 10,310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $1,598,050.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,105 shares in the company, valued at $1,411,275. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.57, for a total transaction of $416,817.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,134.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,392 shares of company stock valued at $3,931,260 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its position in Lear by 77.0% in the 1st quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 5,392 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,345 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 36,877 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,144,000 after buying an additional 5,879 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Lear by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 9,968 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in Lear by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 15,272 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Lear by 4.0% during the first quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 32,981 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.