Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. significantly increased its stake in Lear Corporation, buying an additional 33,638 shares, raising its total ownership by 123.9% to 60,781 shares worth approximately $5.36 million.
• A recent insider sale by Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. saw him offload 1,187 shares at an average price of $92.86, reducing his position by 93.39%.
• Although Lear Corporation reported earnings of $3.47 per share for the quarter, the stock has seen a decline of 8.1% recently, with brokerages adjusting price targets for the stock amid mixed analyst ratings.

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 123.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,781 shares of the auto parts company's stock after buying an additional 33,638 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.11% of Lear worth $5,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,984,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,601 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 310.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 345,580 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $32,726,000 after acquiring an additional 261,390 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Lear by 82.3% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,927 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 20,733 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth $1,392,000. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 84 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,800.24. The trade was a 93.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LEA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 target price on shares of Lear and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.00.

Lear Price Performance

LEA stock traded down $2.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $94.11. 788,064 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 697,068. Lear Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.85 and a 12 month high of $125.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $96.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.29.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.89 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.05%. Lear's quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.94%.

Lear Company 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.