Lyrical Asset Management LP Acquires 29,370 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,056,694 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,370 shares during the quarter. Lear accounts for about 1.5% of Lyrical Asset Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Lyrical Asset Management LP’s holdings in Lear were worth $100,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Lear by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 410,908 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $38,913,000 after purchasing an additional 77,691 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lear by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,216 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lear during the fourth quarter worth $3,871,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Lear by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after buying an additional 12,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Lear by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after acquiring an additional 5,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lear

In related news, Director Rod Lache bought 2,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.80 per share, for a total transaction of $199,940.40. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares in the company, valued at $199,940.40. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on LEA shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen lowered Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.36.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $81.43 on Friday. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $77.23 and a 1 year high of $144.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.64. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.34.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.45%.

About Lear

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.