Lear (NYSE:LEA) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on LEA. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of 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 decreased their price target on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lear has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.67.

Lear Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $94.49 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.91. Lear has a 52-week low of $91.70 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LEA. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $116,126,000 after buying an additional 1,008,200 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Lear by 15.2% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $820,929,000 after acquiring an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lear by 36.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after purchasing an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Lear by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $64,083,000 after purchasing an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lear by 9.5% in the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after buying an additional 238,964 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.