Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 93.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,510 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 59,564 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear in the first quarter valued at approximately $100,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in Lear by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 800 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 63.9% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 5,734 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Lear by 38.0% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 4,540 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lear Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of LEA opened at $97.89 on Monday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $92.14 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.56.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company 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%. Lear’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LEA shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.25.

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.