Royce & Associates LP Sells 11,642 Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP sold 11,642 shares of Lear Corporation, reducing its position by 10.6%, leaving them with 98,184 shares valued at approximately $8.66 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Lear, including Commonwealth Equity Services LLC and American Century Companies Inc., with the latter raising its stake by over 310% in the most recent quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus hold rating for Lear, with recent price target upgrades from various firms, including Citigroup, which raised its target from $123 to $136.

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,184 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 11,642 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.18% of Lear worth $8,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,871,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of 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. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Lear by 82.3% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,927 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $4,349,000 after buying an additional 20,733 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 88.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,249 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 3,409 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Lear by 138.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 43,474 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $4,117,000 after buying an additional 25,217 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $116.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Lear in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $113.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In related news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 84 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,800.24. This represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company's stock.

Lear Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:LEA traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $99.07. 543,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 722,281. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $96.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $125.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.29.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. Lear's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.11%.

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.