Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Takes $2.78 Million Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 29,373 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,782,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Lear as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Lear in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Lear by 70.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lear Price Performance

Lear stock opened at $90.93 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.02. Lear Co. has a one year low of $90.42 and a one year high of $147.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is 32.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LEA. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays downgraded Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.18.

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.