Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 1,100 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,807 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Lear by 236.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $77,526,000 after acquiring an additional 405,875 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Lear by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $254,560,000 after acquiring an additional 287,483 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Lear by 643.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 243,007 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $32,612,000 after acquiring an additional 210,333 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Lear by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,087,058 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $146,057,000 after purchasing an additional 182,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,358,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on LEA shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Benchmark boosted their target price on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

NYSE:LEA opened at $136.47 on Monday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.79 and a fifty-two week high of $157.90. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $138.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.83.

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). Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.81 earnings per share. Lear’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 14.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.