StockNews.com Upgrades Lear (NYSE:LEA) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

LEA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 target price on shares of Lear in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $139.67.

Lear Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $94.78 on Thursday. 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 has a 52-week low of $91.70 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.69. The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45.

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 forecast that Lear will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lear by 36.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $213,726,000 after purchasing an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Lear by 115.4% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $64,083,000 after purchasing an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lear by 9.5% in the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after buying an additional 238,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.