Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $112.09.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LEA shares. 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. Wall Street Zen raised Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays cut Lear from an "equal weight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lear from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Lear from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lear

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,657,389 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $587,315,000 after acquiring an additional 165,494 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lear by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,631,477 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $232,145,000 after acquiring an additional 17,250 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Lear by 6.6% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,358,330 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $208,052,000 after acquiring an additional 145,751 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased 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 valued at $107,313,000 after acquiring an additional 356,760 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its stake in Lear by 0.3% during the first quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,060,216 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $93,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,522 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of LEA stock traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.06. 728,314 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 720,490. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $86.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.35. Lear has a twelve month low of $73.85 and a twelve month high of $126.85.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. The company's revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lear will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Lear's payout ratio is presently 36.11%.

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.