Strs Ohio Purchases 2,397 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Strs Ohio lifted its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,676 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 2,397 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on LEA. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lear from $195.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at $2,465,019.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Lear Price Performance

LEA stock opened at $132.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $138.94 and its 200-day moving average is $135.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $117.79 and a 1 year high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Lear Company 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.