HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 340 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,905 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LEA. Centiva Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 69.2% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 28,271 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after buying an additional 11,567 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in shares of Lear by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 10,542 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 8.3% in the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 473,881 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $51,724,000 after acquiring an additional 36,448 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 295.4% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 7,967 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $870,000 after buying an additional 5,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 1.1% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 30,513 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,330,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on LEA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.67.

Lear Stock Down 0.3 %

LEA stock opened at $94.53 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.88 and its 200 day moving average is $108.48. The stock has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $91.70 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.39%.

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.