Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $134.18.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LEA. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st.

Lear Stock Up 0.4 %

Lear stock opened at $93.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.80. Lear has a fifty-two week low of $91.20 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lear in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 70.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Lear in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Lear by 240.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Lear by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.