Cerity Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 3,924 Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Key Points

• Cerity Partners LLC acquired 3,924 shares of Lear Corporation valued at approximately $346,000 in the 1st quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors in the auto parts company.
• Lear Corporation reported a $3.47 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $3.23 and reflecting a slight year-over-year revenue increase of 0.3%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.10% and showing a payout ratio of 36.11%.

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,924 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LEA. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Lear by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 491 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 131.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 765 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Lear during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 57.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 938 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Lear Trading Down 8.1%

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $99.37 on Friday. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $125.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50 day moving average price is $96.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. Lear's quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. Lear's payout ratio is presently 36.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lear news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value of $110,224.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 84 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,800.24. The trade was a 93.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LEA. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $116.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Lear in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 price objective on Lear and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.64.

Lear 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.

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