Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Takes Position in Lear Corporation $LEA

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,184 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LEA. Oldfield Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Lear during the first quarter valued at $53,799,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Lear by 483.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 567,335 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $49,625,000 after purchasing an additional 470,096 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Lear by 105.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 710,962 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $62,721,000 after purchasing an additional 365,382 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Lear by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,657,389 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $587,315,000 after purchasing an additional 165,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in Lear by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 540,411 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $47,675,000 after purchasing an additional 149,644 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lear

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on LEA. UBS Group dropped their target price on Lear from $116.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $104.00 price objective on Lear in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Bank of America lowered Lear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $123.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lear from $113.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $103.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.71. Lear Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.85 and a twelve month high of $113.10. The company has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.