Quarry LP Increases Stock Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Quarry LP boosted its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,105 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Quarry LP’s holdings in Lear were worth $121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LEA. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lear during the 2nd quarter valued at about $530,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,946,000. 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 valued at $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lear by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after buying an additional 6,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Lear by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,385 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $99.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.61. Lear Co. has a one year low of $92.14 and a one year high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.25.

Lear 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.