AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys Shares of 54,940 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 54,940 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,275,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lear by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 109,746 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 153,282 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lear by 1.0% in the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,816,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $207,506,000 after buying an additional 17,820 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 55.4% during the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $150,796,000 after buying an additional 380,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Lear by 4.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,023,165 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $148,216,000 after buying an additional 41,496 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LEA shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Four 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.56.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEA traded down $0.73 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $115.73. 39,686 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 641,043. The company has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $147.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.13.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 13.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.59%.

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.