Vest Financial LLC Buys 14,904 Shares of Lear Corporation $LEA

Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) by 134.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,951 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,904 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $2,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Lear by 75.6% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,801,284 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $171,086,000 after acquiring an additional 775,476 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lear by 78.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,269,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $120,577,000 after purchasing an additional 558,538 shares during the period. Oldfield Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oldfield Partners LLP now owns 612,218 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $58,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP increased its position in shares of Lear by 3.8% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 570,048 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $57,353,000 after buying an additional 20,900 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Lear during the second quarter worth $48,468,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on LEA. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Lear from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Lear from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lear in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Lear from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $107.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.20.

Lear Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $121.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.35. Lear Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.85 and a 52-week high of $127.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.40. The firm has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.30.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The auto parts company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. Lear had a return on equity of 13.44% and a net margin of 1.92%.The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.89 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 10th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total transaction of $590,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 15,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,801,383.48. This trade represents a 24.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lear Company Profile

Lear Corporation (NYSE: LEA) is a global supplier of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems. The company designs, engineers and manufactures complete seat systems, seat components and power solutions for major vehicle manufacturers. Its electrical business delivers modules and components for battery management, infotainment, body and safety electronics, as well as advanced connectivity and electrification solutions.

The seating division develops lightweight, ergonomic seat structures, trim and mechanisms that address comfort, safety and environmental targets.