Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA)

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in shares of Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 5,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Lear were worth $9,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Lear by 57.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lear in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,984,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lear by 47.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Lear by 6.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Lear by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $690,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LEA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lear from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lear from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Lear from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value of $110,224.82. Following the transaction, the director owned 84 shares in the company, valued at $7,800.24. This trade represents a 93.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,086,425 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Lear Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Lear stock opened at $102.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.71 and a 200 day moving average of $93.18. Lear Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $119.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.30.

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 return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.05%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Lear Corporation will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is 35.94%.

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.