EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $527,000 Investment in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,729 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lear by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lear in the fourth quarter worth about $79,611,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 20,129 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,842,000 after buying an additional 7,242 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 83.9% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 107,582 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,192,000 after purchasing an additional 49,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,356,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $159,174.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $159,174.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.86, for a total transaction of $296,273.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $114.60 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $114.43 and a twelve month high of $157.90. The firm has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $128.31 and a 200 day moving average of $134.31.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.14. Lear had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 14.47%. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Lear from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.78.

Lear 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.