Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,079 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 819 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Lear worth $3,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Lear by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,844 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 23,241 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 151.9% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,648 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $207,506,000 after buying an additional 17,820 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in Lear by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 101,138 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $11,551,000 after buying an additional 7,556 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lear Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Lear stock opened at $99.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $101.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.18. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $92.14 and a 52-week high of $147.11.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays cut shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.25.

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.