Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $113.70.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America lowered Lear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lear in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $104.00 target price on Lear in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In related news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total value of $483,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,747,805.33. This trade represents a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.47, for a total value of $492,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 20,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,993,426.68. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Lear by 75.6% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,801,284 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $171,086,000 after purchasing an additional 775,476 shares in the last quarter. Oldfield Partners LLP acquired a new position in Lear in the first quarter worth about $53,799,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Lear by 78.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,269,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $120,577,000 after purchasing an additional 558,538 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lear in the second quarter valued at approximately $48,468,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lear by 483.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 567,335 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $49,625,000 after acquiring an additional 470,096 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lear Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE:LEA opened at $96.76 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $103.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Lear has a 12 month low of $73.85 and a 12 month high of $113.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.32.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.05%.The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Lear will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 35.94%.

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.