Lear (NYSE:LEA) Shares Gap Down to $137.23

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $137.23, but opened at $131.81. Lear shares last traded at $129.69, with a volume of 440,111 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.84. The company has a market capitalization of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 14.51 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,912,006 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $793,391,000 after purchasing an additional 45,567 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Lear by 7.6% during 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Lear by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $254,560,000 after buying an additional 287,483 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Lear by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its position in Lear by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $150,796,000 after buying an additional 380,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.