Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $108.55.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lear from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Cowen lowered shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In related news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total transaction of $110,224.82. Following the transaction, the director owned 84 shares in the company, valued at $7,800.24. This trade represents a 93.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LEA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Lear by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,301 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Lear by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 676,977 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $64,110,000 after purchasing an additional 99,072 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,507 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 14,322.2% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,298 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lear Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $103.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.64. Lear has a 12-month low of $73.85 and a 12-month high of $126.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.11%.

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.