Citigroup Inc. Sells 22,513 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Citigroup Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,998 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 22,513 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $3,844,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LEA. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Lear by 0.8% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,434,808 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,009,562,000 after buying an additional 66,914 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Lear by 6.2% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,864,149 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $821,570,000 after buying an additional 401,070 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lear by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,645,810 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $675,747,000 after buying an additional 20,874 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 47.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,064,807 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $437,259,000 after purchasing an additional 993,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 0.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,463,244 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $351,234,000 after purchasing an additional 12,072 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. TheStreet raised shares of Lear from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. 888 reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Lear in a report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Lear from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Finally, Cowen upped their target price on shares of Lear from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lear has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 11,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.50, for a total transaction of $1,559,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 16,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,318,490. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 11,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.50, for a total value of $1,559,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 16,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,318,490. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total transaction of $1,136,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,756,930. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,650 shares of company stock worth $2,896,532. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $125.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $131.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.92. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $114.67 and a fifty-two week high of $158.44. The firm has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.53.

Lear (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The auto parts company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.23. Lear had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 11.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 8th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is 43.63%.

Lear Company Profile

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Lear Corp. engages in the design, manufacture and supply of automotive seats, electrical distribution systems and electronic modules, as well as related sub-systems, components, and software. It operates through the following segments: Seating and E-Systems. The Seating segment consists of the design, engineering, just-in-time assembly and delivery of complete seat systems, as well as the manufacture of all major seat components, including seat covers and surface materials such as leather and fabric, seat structures and mechanisms, seat foam and headrests.