Barclays Cuts Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target to $140.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price target cut by Barclays from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

LEA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Lear from $131.00 to $114.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group dropped 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, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Lear from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.64.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $105.96 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lear has a twelve month low of $101.67 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.44.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 654 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter worth about $527,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter worth about $339,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter worth about $2,374,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter worth about $75,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.