Lear (NYSE:LEA) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $160.00 target price on the auto parts company's stock, up from their prior target price of $150.00. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 22.09% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on LEA. StockNews.com lowered Lear from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Lear from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Four research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $161.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock traded up $1.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $131.05. The company had a trading volume of 628,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 707,314. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $137.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.45. Lear has a 52 week low of $120.48 and a 52 week high of $157.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.55.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.14. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lear will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,023,195 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $872,640,000 after purchasing an additional 109,746 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Lear by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,179,175 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $307,721,000 after buying an additional 153,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Lear by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $254,560,000 after acquiring an additional 287,483 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Lear by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $174,382,000 after acquiring an additional 149,958 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 55.4% during the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $150,796,000 after purchasing an additional 380,771 shares during the last quarter. 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.