Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 165,494 Shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,657,389 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 165,494 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Lear worth $587,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LEA. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Lear during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Lear by 131.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 765 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Lear during the 1st quarter valued at about $71,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Lear by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 938 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 966 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA opened at $103.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.10 and its 200 day moving average is $93.10. Lear Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.85 and a 12-month high of $119.10.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.89 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 35.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 5,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.77, for a total transaction of $483,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 38,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,747,805.33. The trade was a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of Lear 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 valued at $1,086,425 over the last 90 days. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LEA. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lear from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $88.00 price target on shares of Lear and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.00.

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.