RBF Capital LLC Decreases Holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

RBF Capital LLC trimmed its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,224 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 495 shares during the quarter. RBF Capital LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 187.0% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lear by 68.2% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Lear by 233.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 410 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 427 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lear by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 491 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Cowen downgraded Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays cut Lear from an “equal weight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rod Lache bought 2,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.80 per share, for a total transaction of $199,940.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares in the company, valued at $199,940.40. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lear Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $80.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.34. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $73.85 and a 12-month high of $138.69. The business has a 50 day moving average of $89.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. Lear’s payout ratio is 34.45%.

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.