Lear (NYSE:LEA) Sets New 12-Month Low at $104.36

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $104.36 and last traded at $105.62, with a volume of 172269 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $110.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.40.

Lear Stock Down 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $115.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.30%. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.59%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 11,753.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $116,126,000 after buying an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lear by 15.2% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after acquiring an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,611,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lear by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $213,726,000 after purchasing an additional 504,091 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 970.4% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 540,850 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $76,373,000 after purchasing an additional 490,324 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.