Wells Fargo & Company Trims Lear (NYSE:LEA) Target Price to $114.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $131.00 to $114.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LEA. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Lear from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised Lear from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $149.70.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA stock opened at $108.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Lear has a 1-year low of $101.67 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $113.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lear will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s payout ratio is 33.59%.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Lear by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lear by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,023,195 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $872,640,000 after buying an additional 109,746 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lear by 9.5% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $314,620,000 after buying an additional 238,964 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Lear by 36.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Lear by 1.0% in the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $207,506,000 after acquiring an additional 17,820 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.