Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,882 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $407,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 3.0% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 1,921 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,975 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Lear by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,152 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LEA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $195.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $133.70 on Monday. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $117.79 and a 52 week high of $157.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.91. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 14.09%. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of Lear stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total value of $1,415,224.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.