Royce & Associates LP Sells 11,642 Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its position in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) by 10.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,184 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 11,642 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.18% of Lear worth $8,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lear during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,984,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Lear by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,601 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Lear by 310.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 345,580 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,726,000 after acquiring an additional 261,390 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Lear by 82.3% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,927 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 20,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Lear in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,392,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $116.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Lear in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.64.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the business’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 value of $110,224.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 84 shares in the company, valued at $7,800.24. The trade was a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $99.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.32. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $125.09. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 36.11%.

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.