Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 513 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,146 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 513 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LEA. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $842,054,000 after acquiring an additional 526,763 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lear by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,842,247 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,461,000 after purchasing an additional 22,601 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $187,046,000 after buying an additional 206,822 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $137,975,000 after buying an additional 247,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Lear by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,476 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $124,621,000 after buying an additional 44,128 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.00.

Lear Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $96.43 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.39. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $86.28 and a 1 year high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. On average, equities analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 34.45%.

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.