Swiss National Bank Sells 5,300 Shares of Lear Corporation $LEA

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Lear Corporation by 4.8%, selling 5,300 shares and owning 105,300 shares, valued at approximately $9.29 million.
• Lear reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.47, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 0.3% year-over-year increase in revenue, with total revenue of $6.03 billion.
• A quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share was announced, with a yield of 3.0%, to be paid on September 23rd.

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,300 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 5,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Lear worth $9,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Lear by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 356,154 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $33,728,000 after buying an additional 130,018 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,984,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,412 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $13,676,000 after buying an additional 9,363 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in Lear by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LEA. 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.00.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total value of $483,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,747,805.33. This represents a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.47, for a total transaction of $492,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 20,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,993,426.68. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,187 shares of company stock valued at $1,086,425. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lear Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:LEA traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $103.05. 346,169 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 710,484. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.19. 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 $119.10. The firm has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30.

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. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is 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.