Rhumbline Advisers Sells 6,084 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,110 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 6,084 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.28% of Lear worth $14,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Lear by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after buying an additional 12,094 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Lear by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after buying an additional 5,711 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Lear in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,946,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Lear by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,748,000 after buying an additional 9,774 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lear by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after buying an additional 6,055 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $96.43 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.45. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $86.28 and a 12-month high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 34.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEA has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.00.

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.