Everence Capital Management Inc. Makes New $277,000 Investment in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,920 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Lear in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lear by 70.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Lear during the third quarter worth $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Lear by 240.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Lear by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.18.

Lear Stock Up 0.8 %

LEA opened at $94.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.45. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $91.20 and a 52 week high of $147.11. 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 (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.