Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,033 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Lear were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 243.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,754 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 13,295 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 356,154 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $33,728,000 after purchasing an additional 130,018 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lear in the 4th quarter valued at $2,984,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,412 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $13,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,363 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total transaction of $110,224.82. Following the sale, the director owned 84 shares in the company, valued at $7,800.24. The trade was a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.47, for a total transaction of $492,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 20,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,993,426.68. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,086,425 in the last ninety days. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LEA shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.00.

Lear Trading Up 3.2%

Lear stock opened at $103.19 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $98.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.30. Lear Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.85 and a 52-week high of $119.10.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.24. Lear had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. Lear’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 35.94%.

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.