LSV Asset Management Purchases 30,298 Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Lear Corporation by 4.9%, acquiring an additional 30,298 shares, bringing its total to 650,648 shares valued at $57.4 million.
• Insider trades revealed that CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares, reducing his ownership by 11.43%, while Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares, representing a 93.39% decrease in his holdings.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Lear's price target from $119 to $120 and maintained an "overweight" rating, while the company reported a quarterly EPS of $3.47, exceeding estimates by $0.24.

LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 650,648 shares of the auto parts company's stock after buying an additional 30,298 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 1.22% of Lear worth $57,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Oldfield Partners LLP purchased a new position in Lear during the first quarter worth $53,799,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lear by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,133,186 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $107,313,000 after buying an additional 356,760 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter worth $31,881,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lear by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,614,227 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $247,566,000 after buying an additional 283,838 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Lear by 78.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 463,467 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $43,890,000 after buying an additional 203,963 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total value of $483,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,729 shares in the company, valued at $3,747,805.33. This represents a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 84 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,800.24. This trade represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,086,425. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 price objective on Lear and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lear from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $93.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Lear Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.85 and a 52-week high of $119.10.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.60 EPS. Lear's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear's payout ratio is 35.94%.

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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