RWC Asset Management LLP Acquires Shares of 3,451 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

RWC Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,451 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 373 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Lear by 131.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 443 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Lear by 21.0% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 622 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Lear by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 873 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark upped their price target on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,483.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,483.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of LEA stock traded up $2.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $136.47. The company had a trading volume of 711,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,557. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $138.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $117.79 and a 52 week high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.09). Lear had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 14.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Lear 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.