Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $127.00.

LEA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,133 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 240.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 104,679 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $11,426,000 after buying an additional 7,483 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 8.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lear during the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Lear stock opened at $93.97 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. Lear has a 52-week low of $86.28 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Lear’s payout ratio is 34.45%.

About Lear

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.