Evercore ISI Cuts Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target to $110.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective trimmed by Evercore ISI from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LEA. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.00.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $96.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Lear has a 1-year low of $86.28 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The stock has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.42.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear will post 13.29 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.45%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lear in the second quarter valued at about $211,000. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 106,034 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $11,574,000 after acquiring an additional 4,896 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 63.2% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 37,918 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,139,000 after acquiring an additional 14,677 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Lear by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,133 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.