Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives $134.18 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, 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 target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $134.18.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays downgraded Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Lear Price Performance

LEA stock opened at $90.93 on Friday. Lear has a 12 month low of $90.42 and a 12 month high of $147.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.02. The stock has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 9.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $14,742,000 after buying an additional 12,094 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Lear during the 2nd quarter valued at about $530,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after purchasing an additional 5,711 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the third quarter worth about $1,946,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $15,748,000 after purchasing an additional 9,774 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.