Lear (NYSE:LEA) PT Lowered to $150.00

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $160.00 to $150.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the auto parts company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 34.29% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.56.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $111.70. 109,621 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 655,364. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.55. Lear has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $147.57.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Lear will post 13.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.86, for a total transaction of $296,273.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $159,174.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,392 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.86, for a total value of $296,273.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Lear by 15.2% during 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 buying an additional 946,109 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,023,195 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $872,640,000 after buying an additional 109,746 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 238,964 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Lear by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,179,175 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $307,721,000 after acquiring an additional 153,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $213,726,000 after purchasing an additional 504,091 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently 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.