Bank of America Downgrades Lear (NYSE:LEA) to Neutral

Lear (NYSE:LEA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $123.00 price target on the auto parts company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $135.00. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.69% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LEA. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lear from $102.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lear from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Lear from $116.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Lear from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lear presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.70.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA opened at $109.15 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.74, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.83. Lear has a 1 year low of $73.85 and a 1 year high of $115.47.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.47 earnings per share 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%. Lear’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. Lear has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lear will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lear

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

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lear by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 13,846 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Lear by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,158 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Lear by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 6,785 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Lear by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,709 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Lear by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 24,918 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.