Xponance Inc. Increases Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,511 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LEA. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lear by 187.0% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Lear in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 68.2% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Lear by 233.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 410 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rod Lache purchased 2,178 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,940.40. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lear from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.36.

Lear Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $95.84 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $95.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.58. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.28 and a fifty-two week high of $146.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.44.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.45%.

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.