Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Purchased by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 39.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,055 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $2,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LEA. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Lear by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after buying an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lear by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $314,620,000 after purchasing an additional 238,964 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after purchasing an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 1.0% during the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $207,506,000 after purchasing an additional 17,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Lear by 2.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,506,839 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $172,096,000 after acquiring an additional 32,275 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays downgraded shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.25.

Lear Price Performance

Lear stock opened at $97.89 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $102.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.56. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $92.14 and a 52 week high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

Lear 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.