New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 11,896 Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 12.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,816 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,896 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.19% of Lear worth $9,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lear in the 4th quarter worth about $3,871,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lear by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,614,227 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $247,566,000 after purchasing an additional 283,838 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Lear by 82.3% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,927 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 20,733 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Lear by 88.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,249 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Lear by 138.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 43,474 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,117,000 after acquiring an additional 25,217 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $116.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Lear in a report on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.64.

Lear Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of LEA traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.01. 493,779 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 708,481. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Lear Corporation has a 1-year low of $73.85 and a 1-year high of $125.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $95.54 and a 200-day moving average of $92.48.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 earnings per share. 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. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Lear's payout ratio is presently 36.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value 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 trade represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.