Lear (NYSE:LEA) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Lear (NYSE:LEA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $160.00 price objective on the auto parts company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $150.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 23.79% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group cut their price target on Lear from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.44.

Lear Price Performance

LEA stock opened at $129.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.55. Lear has a 12-month low of $120.48 and a 12-month high of $157.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lear

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,912,006 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $793,391,000 after acquiring an additional 45,567 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,179,175 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $307,721,000 after acquiring an additional 153,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Lear by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $254,560,000 after acquiring an additional 287,483 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Lear by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $150,796,000 after buying an additional 380,771 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lear

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.