Lear (NYSE:LEA) Hits New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $92.14 and last traded at $92.50, with a volume of 235141 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays cut shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.67.

Lear Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.81, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.02.

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

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $842,054,000 after buying an additional 526,763 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lear by 9.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Lear by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $187,046,000 after acquiring an additional 206,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Lear by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $137,975,000 after acquiring an additional 247,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.