Lear (NYSE:LEA) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $113.73 and last traded at $113.0050, with a volume of 360292 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $111.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on LEA. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lear from $109.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Lear in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.80.

Lear Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The auto parts company reported $2.79 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,657,389 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $587,315,000 after buying an additional 165,494 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Lear by 2.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,784,110 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $280,106,000 after acquiring an additional 57,443 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Lear by 1.3% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,825,057 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $182,688,000 after acquiring an additional 23,773 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Lear by 23.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,569,341 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $157,891,000 after purchasing an additional 299,841 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP grew its stake in Lear by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,060,216 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $93,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.