JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target to $179.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $177.00 to $179.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $162.44.

Lear Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $133.48 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.85. Lear has a 52 week low of $117.79 and a 52 week high of $157.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Lear

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the first quarter worth $32,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 373 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $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 worth $56,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 131.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 443 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Lear in the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.