Lear (NYSE:LEA) Given New $103.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $100.00 to $103.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on LEA. Cowen cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. TD Cowen cut shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of Lear from an “equal weight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 target price on shares of Lear and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.55.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $103.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.32. Lear has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $126.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.64.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 36.11%.

Insider Activity at Lear

In related news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value of $110,224.82. Following the transaction, the director owned 84 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,800.24. This represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lear

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lear by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,657,389 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $587,315,000 after purchasing an additional 165,494 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lear by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,631,477 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $232,145,000 after buying an additional 17,250 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Lear by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,358,330 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $208,052,000 after acquiring an additional 145,751 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lear by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,133,186 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $107,313,000 after acquiring an additional 356,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 0.3% in the first quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,060,216 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $93,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,522 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is 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.