MML Investors Services LLC Boosts Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,207 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Lear by 11,753.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $116,126,000 after buying an additional 1,008,200 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Lear by 115.4% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $64,083,000 after purchasing an additional 300,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LEA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $139.67.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $95.18 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. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $91.70 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.08. The company has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Lear’s payout ratio is 32.39%.

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.