American Century Companies Inc. Has $8.58 Million Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 22.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,147 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,909 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.13% of Lear worth $8,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lear in the fourth quarter valued at about $79,611,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lear during the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Lear by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,159 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its position in Lear by 78.1% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 6,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at $563,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Performance

NYSE:LEA opened at $108.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $101.67 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $113.71 and a 200-day moving average of $123.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.70.

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.