Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target Cut to $110.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price target reduced by Evercore ISI from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on LEA. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.00.

Lear Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LEA opened at $96.35 on Monday. Lear has a twelve month low of $86.28 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.63. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. As a group, analysts expect that Lear will post 13.29 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s payout ratio is 34.45%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $842,054,000 after acquiring an additional 526,763 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,842,247 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $174,461,000 after purchasing an additional 22,601 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Lear by 13.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $187,046,000 after purchasing an additional 206,822 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Lear by 24.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $137,975,000 after purchasing an additional 247,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lear by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,476 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $124,621,000 after purchasing an additional 44,128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.