Level Four Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Lear Corporation $LEA

Key Points

• Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Lear Corporation by 53.0%, acquiring an additional 25,775 shares, bringing its total holdings to 74,412 shares worth approximately $6.57 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Lear, with four giving it a "Buy" and nine a "Hold," while the average price target is set at $113.00.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, providing an annualized dividend yield of 3.0% for stockholders of record as of September 3rd.

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 53.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,412 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,775 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC owned about 0.14% of Lear worth $6,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Lear in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Lear by 131.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 765 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in Lear in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Lear by 57.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 938 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 966 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.47, for a total transaction of $492,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 20,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,993,426.68. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total transaction of $110,224.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 84 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,800.24. This represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,086,425 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LEA. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lear from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.00.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of Lear stock traded up $5.3570 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.4470. 543,863 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 627,211. Lear Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.85 and a 12 month high of $119.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Lear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.94%.

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.