Oak Thistle LLC Acquires Shares of 4,057 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,057 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lear in the 4th quarter worth $79,611,000. Grimes & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lear in the 1st quarter worth $5,847,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 20,129 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 7,242 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Lear by 307.9% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 12,869 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 9,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Lear during the first quarter worth about $1,984,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Price Performance

NYSE:LEA opened at $110.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.76. The company has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.45. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $107.25 and a 52-week high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. Lear’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Lear from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $153.56.

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.