Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target Raised to $120.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $100.00 to $120.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $116.00 price target (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Lear in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.64.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock opened at $104.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.50. Lear has a 1-year low of $73.85 and a 1-year high of $125.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.29.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.48. Lear had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Lear will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. Lear’s payout ratio is 36.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value of $110,224.82. Following the sale, the director owned 84 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,800.24. The trade was a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lear

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lear in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 491 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 131.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 765 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 247.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 788 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% 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.