Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 409 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,042 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Lear were worth $1,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Lear by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,103 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,135,000 after buying an additional 13,281 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 676,977 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $64,110,000 after purchasing an additional 99,072 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 410,908 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $38,913,000 after purchasing an additional 77,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 15,059 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LEA. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.00.

Lear Price Performance

NYSE:LEA opened at $93.97 on Friday. Lear Co. has a one year low of $86.28 and a one year high of $147.11. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $95.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.45%.

Lear 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.