Lear (NYSE:LEA) Price Target Increased to $139.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $134.00 to $139.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the auto parts company's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Lear from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark raised their price target on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised Lear from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $161.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA traded down $1.58 on Wednesday, reaching $124.29. 1,719,880 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 569,620. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.54. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $138.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.77. Lear has a 52-week low of $117.79 and a 52-week high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.14. Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. Lear's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Lear will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Lear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,483.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lear in the first quarter worth about $812,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Lear by 16.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,197 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Lear by 97.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,533 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $6,162,000 after purchasing an additional 20,946 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Lear by 10.3% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 96,441 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $13,253,000 after purchasing an additional 8,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Lear by 172.7% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,354 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,253,000 after acquiring an additional 18,591 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

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.