State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 12,492 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,793 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 12,492 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Lear during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Lear in the first quarter worth $62,000. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Lear by 2.1% in the second quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 64,398 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $131.00 to $114.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.70.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $108.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $113.71 and its 200 day moving average is $123.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $101.67 and a 1-year high of $147.11.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

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

Lear Company 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.