Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 153,282 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,179,175 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 153,282 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 3.74% of Lear worth $307,721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LEA. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position 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 position in Lear during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lear from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.44.

Lear Stock Down 0.7 %

Lear stock traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $127.28. 107,658 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 560,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.33. Lear Co. has a 12 month low of $121.38 and a 12 month high of $157.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.57. The company has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.55.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. Lear had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 14.47%. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Lear’s payout ratio is 33.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.79% 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.