South Dakota Investment Council Has $1.64 Million Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,579 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Lear in the fourth quarter valued at $1,356,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Lear in the fourth quarter valued at $2,316,000. Lakewood Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 9,995 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Lear by 36.7% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 273,942 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,763,000 after buying an additional 73,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Lear Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $135.15 on Thursday. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $117.79 and a 52-week high of $157.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.87. The company has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.09). Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 14.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,483.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.