Lear’s (LEA) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lear (NYSE:LEA)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $150.00 price objective on the auto parts company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $175.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 18.48% from the company’s previous close.

LEA has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $131.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut Lear from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Lear in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Lear from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.33.

Lear Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of LEA traded down $2.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.60. The stock had a trading volume of 183,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 602,354. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $131.16 and its 200 day moving average is $130.56. The firm has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Lear has a 1 year low of $96.04 and a 1 year high of $150.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 14.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.06 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lear will post 14.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Conrad Mallett, Jr. sold 1,646 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.35, for a total transaction of $199,742.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 37 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,489.95. The trade was a 97.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.37, for a total value of $6,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 49,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,739,936.93. The trade was a 50.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Lear during the 4th quarter valued at $22,539,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Lear by 12,951.3% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,843,046 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,051,439,000 after buying an additional 7,782,952 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Lear by 5,987.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 23,436 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,838,000 after buying an additional 23,051 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the second quarter valued at $2,997,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Lear in the second quarter valued at about $4,029,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Lear

Here are the key news stories impacting Lear this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: The recent headlines concern online gaming, college debt, cryptocurrency exchanges, education, inheritances, entertainment, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency listings. None discusses Lear, its automotive-supply business, customers, production, earnings, guidance, acquisitions or management. Recent unrelated headlines
• Neutral Sentiment: In the absence of a Lear-specific catalyst, the stock’s movement may reflect broader trading in automotive suppliers, vehicle-production expectations, tariffs, consumer demand or general market factors; the supplied information does not identify which factor is responsible.

About Lear

Lear Corporation is a global automotive technology company that designs and manufactures systems and components used in passenger vehicles. Its business is organized primarily around two areas: seating and E-Systems. Lear supplies complete vehicle seating systems, including seats, structures, mechanisms, foam, covers and related components, as well as electrical distribution systems and other technologies that help manage power, data and connectivity within vehicles.

The company’s E-Systems offerings include low- and high-voltage wiring systems, connection systems, battery and power-management solutions, electronic control modules, displays and software-enabled technologies.