Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target Cut to $142.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective trimmed by UBS Group from $146.00 to $142.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark boosted their target price on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised Lear from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $161.44.

Lear Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:LEA opened at $124.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.77. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.55. Lear has a 1 year low of $117.79 and a 1 year high of $157.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lear will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth $79,611,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 970.4% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 540,850 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $76,373,000 after purchasing an additional 490,324 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 236.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $77,526,000 after purchasing an additional 405,875 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 981,669 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $138,595,000 after purchasing an additional 391,949 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $150,796,000 after purchasing an additional 380,771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.