Janus Henderson Group PLC Grows Stock Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,179 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $2,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,216 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Lear by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 410,908 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $38,913,000 after purchasing an additional 77,691 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lear in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,871,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,614,227 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $247,566,000 after purchasing an additional 283,838 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 9.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after acquiring an additional 12,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, Director Rod Lache purchased 2,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.80 per share, with a total value of $199,940.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,940.40. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered shares of Lear from an “equal weight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cowen downgraded shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lear from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.09.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA stock opened at $93.87 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Lear Co. has a 12 month low of $73.85 and a 12 month high of $128.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.30.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.11%.

About Lear

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.