Quadrature Capital Ltd Cuts Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Quadrature Capital Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,105 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 5,551 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Lear were worth $775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Lear by 151.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 3,648 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Lear by 8.1% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 101,138 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $11,551,000 after acquiring an additional 7,556 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the second quarter valued at about $663,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lear in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,388,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LEA shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.25.

Lear Stock Down 0.3 %

LEA stock opened at $99.84 on Friday. Lear Co. has a one year low of $92.14 and a one year high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $100.73 and its 200 day moving average is $110.48. The firm has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.39%.

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.