Voloridge Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 655,520 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 159,087 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned 1.21% of Lear worth $62,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Lear by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,216 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Lear by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 410,908 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $38,913,000 after acquiring an additional 77,691 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,871,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lear by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,614,227 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $247,566,000 after acquiring an additional 283,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Lear by 9.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after acquiring an additional 12,094 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other news, Director Rod Lache purchased 2,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $91.80 per share, for a total transaction of $199,940.40. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,940.40. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lear Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of LEA opened at $93.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $128.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.85.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Lear in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $123.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 price target on shares of Lear and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Cowen cut shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.09.

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.