Lear (NYSE:LEA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

LEA has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Lear in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $131.00 price objective on shares of Lear in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lear from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lear from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lear from $137.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.08.

Lear Stock Down 1.4%

LEA stock opened at $128.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $131.16 and its 200 day moving average is $130.56. The stock has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.26. Lear has a 1-year low of $96.04 and a 1-year high of $150.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.30. Lear had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 14.18%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.06 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Lear will post 14.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Lear’s payout ratio is 28.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Raymond Scott sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was 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. This represents a 50.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,646 shares of Lear stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.35, for a total value of $199,742.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 37 shares in the company, valued at $4,489.95. The trade was a 97.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Lear by 12,951.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,843,046 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,051,439,000 after buying an additional 7,782,952 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lear in the fourth quarter worth about $82,016,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Lear in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,397,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Lear in the 4th quarter valued at about $22,539,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lear by 220.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 258,063 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,574,000 after purchasing an additional 177,632 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lear

Lear Corporation is a global automotive technology company that designs and manufactures systems and components used in passenger vehicles. Its business is organized primarily around two areas: seating and E-Systems. Lear supplies complete vehicle seating systems, including seats, structures, mechanisms, foam, covers and related components, as well as electrical distribution systems and other technologies that help manage power, data and connectivity within vehicles.

The company’s E-Systems offerings include low- and high-voltage wiring systems, connection systems, battery and power-management solutions, electronic control modules, displays and software-enabled technologies.