Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target to $99.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $106.00 to $99.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America cut their target price on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 target price on shares of Lear in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.67.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of Lear stock opened at $93.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Lear has a twelve month low of $92.14 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company’s fifty day moving average is $99.37 and its 200 day moving average is $109.02.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.39%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Lear in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Lear in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 240.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 71.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.