Lear (NYSE:LEA) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 target price on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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 research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.25.

Lear Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:LEA opened at $97.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. Lear has a 52 week low of $92.14 and a 52 week high of $147.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $102.64 and a 200 day moving average of $112.67.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lear by 11,753.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,200 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Lear by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after acquiring an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after acquiring an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Lear by 115.4% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $64,083,000 after purchasing an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 9.5% in the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after purchasing an additional 238,964 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.