Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,560,000 shares, a drop of 20.0% from the December 31st total of 3,200,000 shares. Approximately 4.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 759,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LEA. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lear by 187.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 240.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Lear by 71.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Lear by 233.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 410 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Trading Down 2.8 %

Lear stock traded down $2.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $94.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 768,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,846. 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 stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $103.99. Lear has a 12 month low of $90.03 and a 12 month high of $147.11.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s payout ratio is 32.39%.

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.