Lear (NYSE:LEA) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The stock traded as low as $91.70 and last traded at $91.73, with a volume of 16639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEA has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays lowered Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.18.

Lear Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.02.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $116,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Lear by 7.3% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $842,054,000 after purchasing an additional 526,763 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Lear by 36.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Lear by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $64,083,000 after acquiring an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 9.5% in the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after purchasing an additional 238,964 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.