Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $142.75.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEA. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grimes & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,847,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Lear during the 1st quarter valued at $1,984,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Lear by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 307,383 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $44,534,000 after acquiring an additional 5,584 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its stake in shares of Lear by 196.7% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 319,156 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $46,239,000 after purchasing an additional 211,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 35.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 54,995 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $7,953,000 after purchasing an additional 14,305 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE LEA opened at $98.65 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lear has a fifty-two week low of $97.51 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $109.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.58. The stock has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.44.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lear will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.59%.

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.