Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Invests $2.88 Million in Lear Corporation $LEA

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec has acquired 32,629 shares of Lear Corporation, valued at approximately $2,879,000, giving the fund a 0.06% ownership in the company.
• Several institutional investors, including Tower Research Capital LLC and Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD, have significantly increased their holdings in Lear Corporation in the last quarter.
• Lear Corporation has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.8%, to be paid on September 23rd.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new position in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 32,629 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $2,879,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.06% of Lear as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,841 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,717 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $3,288,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 500,508 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $47,398,000 after purchasing an additional 108,756 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,239 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $9,209,000 after purchasing an additional 27,213 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 195.2% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 107,480 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $10,178,000 after purchasing an additional 71,074 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 price target on Lear and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Lear Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:LEA traded down $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $109.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 312,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,462. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.34. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $116.29. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $102.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.08. The company has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.05%.The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Lear's payout ratio is presently 35.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total transaction of $483,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,747,805.33. The trade was a 11.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total transaction of $110,224.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 84 shares in the company, valued at $7,800.24. This represents a 93.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,086,425. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.