Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives $149.20 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $149.20.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 target price on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock.

Lear Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Lear stock opened at $112.72 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.67. Lear has a fifty-two week low of $101.67 and a fifty-two week high of $147.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. Lear’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Lear by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after buying an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 490,324 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP boosted its position 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 valued at $150,796,000 after acquiring an additional 380,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.