Arbor Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 14,191 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Arbor Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,191 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,004,000. Lear accounts for approximately 2.1% of Arbor Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lear by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,912,006 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $793,391,000 after buying an additional 45,567 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 17.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,896,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $254,560,000 after acquiring an additional 287,483 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Lear by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after purchasing an additional 149,958 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Lear by 236.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $77,526,000 after purchasing an additional 405,875 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Lear by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 529,304 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $71,033,000 after purchasing an additional 13,248 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LEA. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark lifted their target price on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Lear from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.44.

Lear Trading Down 0.4 %

LEA stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $133.53. 691,600 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 527,481. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $117.79 and a 52-week high of $157.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.88 and a 200-day moving average of $135.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.82%.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of Lear stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total value of $1,415,224.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,483.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total value of $1,415,224.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,483.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.