New York Life Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,204 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lear by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,912,006 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $793,391,000 after buying an additional 45,567 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $254,560,000 after buying an additional 287,483 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lear by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Lear by 236.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $77,526,000 after buying an additional 405,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Lear by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 529,304 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $71,033,000 after buying an additional 13,248 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lear from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Lear from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.33.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $129.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.55. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $120.48 and a 52-week high of $157.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.