Bank of New York Mellon Corp Makes New $65.40 Million Investment in Lear Corporation $LEA

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 487,822 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,397,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,539,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 154.6% during the 4th quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 24,720 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,833,000 after acquiring an additional 15,010 shares in the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 47,513 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,445,000 after acquiring an additional 13,937 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 5,987.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 23,436 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,838,000 after acquiring an additional 23,051 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lear in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,016,000. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Lear from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $131.00 price target on Lear in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Lear from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.23.

Lear Price Performance

LEA stock opened at $124.19 on Thursday. Lear Corporation has a 1 year low of $96.04 and a 1 year high of $150.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $132.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.32. The firm has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.25.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.30. Lear had a return on equity of 14.18% and a net margin of 2.35%.The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.06 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 14.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.70%.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 50,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.37, for a total transaction of $6,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,789 shares in the company, valued at $6,739,936.93. The trade was a 50.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.35, for a total transaction of $199,742.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,489.95. This represents a 97.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 61,336 shares of company stock valued at $8,367,727. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Lear News

Here are the key news stories impacting Lear this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: The most substantive market article covers JOYY and its second-quarter results, including revenue growth and higher advertising-platform revenue. Because JOYY is unrelated to Lear, the report should not materially affect LEA. JOYY Posts Strong Q2, Deep-Learning Ad Platform Revenues Grow 53%
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles concern Arena REIT, Oura Ring’s potential IPO, 3P Learning, trading technology, and general educational or lifestyle topics. None involves Lear, its automotive customers, production outlook, earnings, or supply-chain conditions, so they offer no direct explanation for LEA’s performance. Arena REIT Faces Tenant Administration

Lear 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.