Great Lakes Advisors LLC Takes $3 Million Position in Lear Corporation $LEA

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 22,355 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,997,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Lear in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthCollab LLC bought a new position in shares of Lear in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Lear by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 309 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Lear by 942.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 271 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Lear

Here are the key news stories impacting Lear this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Positive growth outlook: Zacks highlighted Lear as a strong growth stock through its Style Scores framework, supporting investor interest in the auto-parts supplier. The company’s latest reported quarter also showed an earnings beat, revenue above expectations, 3% year-over-year sales growth and substantially higher EPS than the prior-year period. Here’s Why Lear (LEA) is a Strong Growth Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: No additional material company news: The remaining recent articles cover online education, personal finance, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and real estate, with no apparent operational, financial or strategic updates involving Lear Corporation.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LEA shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Lear from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Lear from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lear from $137.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.35, for a total value of $199,742.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 37 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,489.95. This represents a 97.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 50,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.37, for a total transaction of $6,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,739,936.93. This trade represents a 50.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,336 shares of company stock worth $8,367,727. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock opened at $125.09 on Friday. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $96.04 and a fifty-two week high of $150.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.25.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.15 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.18% and a net margin of 2.35%.The business’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.06 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 14.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.70%.

Lear Profile

Lear Corporation (NYSE: LEA) is a global supplier of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems. The company designs, engineers and manufactures complete seat systems, seat components and power solutions for major vehicle manufacturers. Its electrical business delivers modules and components for battery management, infotainment, body and safety electronics, as well as advanced connectivity and electrification solutions.

The seating division develops lightweight, ergonomic seat structures, trim and mechanisms that address comfort, safety and environmental targets.