Lear (NYSE:LEA) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LEA. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Five 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 a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $134.18 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.89. Lear has a 52 week low of $117.79 and a 52 week high of $157.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lear will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related 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 value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The sale 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 dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,483.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Lear in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Lear by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 373 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Lear by 131.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 443 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. 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.