Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $134.18.

LEA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Lear Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $90.93 on Friday. Lear has a 1 year low of $90.42 and a 1 year high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $96.40 and a 200 day moving average of $106.02. The stock has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LEA. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Lear by 9.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $14,742,000 after buying an additional 12,094 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Lear in the second quarter worth about $530,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Lear by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,759,000 after buying an additional 5,711 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,946,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake 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 worth $15,748,000 after acquiring an additional 9,774 shares during the last quarter. 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.