Lear (NYSE:LEA) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Lear (NYSE:LEA) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen dropped 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. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.75.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of Lear stock traded up $2.15 during trading on Monday, hitting $100.80. 593,568 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 659,353. The company has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.19. Lear has a twelve month low of $97.51 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 946,109 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Lear by 36.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lear by 115.4% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $64,083,000 after buying an additional 300,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.