Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, an increase of 15.0% from the March 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 531,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 5.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEA. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Lear by 4.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,192 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the first quarter valued at about $657,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Lear by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 19,834 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,890,000 after buying an additional 8,878 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Lear by 47.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 1,948 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC raised its position in shares of Lear by 62.8% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 39,256 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after buying an additional 15,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $195.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, reaching $131.93. 437,141 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 531,147. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Lear has a twelve month low of $117.79 and a twelve month high of $157.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $139.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.87.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lear will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

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.