Bank of America Downgrades Lear (NYSE:LEA) to Neutral

Key Points

• Bank of America has downgraded Lear Corporation from a "buy" to a "neutral" rating, setting a price objective of $123.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.57% from the current stock price.
• Despite the downgrade, other analysts like Citigroup have raised their price target for Lear from $123.00 to $136.00, maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Insider trading reported significant sales, with CEO Raymond E. Scott and CFO Jason M. Cardew both selling 5,000 shares each, indicating a decrease in their respective positions by 11.43% and 19.81%.

Bank of America downgraded shares of Lear (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $123.00 price target on the auto parts company's stock, down from their previous price target of $135.00.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LEA. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lear from $102.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $116.00 to $109.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lear from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.70.

Lear Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:LEA traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $105.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 187,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 695,263. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.34. Lear has a 1 year low of $73.85 and a 1 year high of $115.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.05%.The company's quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Lear will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be given 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 2.9%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.47, for a total value of $492,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 20,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,993,426.68. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total transaction of $483,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Lear by 1,384.2% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 282 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC purchased a new position in Lear in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Lear during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 454 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lear in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.