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

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

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $149.70.

Lear Stock Up 0.5 %

LEA stock opened at $108.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $113.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.55. Lear has a 12 month low of $101.67 and a 12 month high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its 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. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lear will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 33.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lear

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

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.