Lear (NYSE:LEA) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Lear (NYSE:LEA) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays cut Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 target price on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.25.

Lear Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE LEA opened at $96.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.99. Lear has a twelve month low of $92.14 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LEA. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Lear by 63.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,426 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,331 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,886,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 4.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,476 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $124,621,000 after purchasing an additional 44,128 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 9.8% during the third 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. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Lear by 8.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 69,068 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $7,539,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 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.