Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $127.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on LEA shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after purchasing an additional 12,094 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lear by 16.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lear in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,946,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,748,000 after acquiring an additional 9,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lear by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after acquiring an additional 6,055 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $96.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $94.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.39. Lear has a 1 year low of $86.28 and a 1 year high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lear will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.