Lear (NYSE:LEA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

LEA has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.08.

Lear Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Lear stock opened at $95.75 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $107.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.67. Lear has a 1 year low of $95.63 and a 1 year high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lear will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Lear’s payout ratio is 32.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 15.2% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after buying an additional 946,109 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lear by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,023,195 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $872,640,000 after purchasing an additional 109,746 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lear by 9.5% during the second 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 36.9% in the second 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. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Lear by 1.0% in the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $207,506,000 after purchasing an additional 17,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.