Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Purchased by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA – Get Rating) by 30.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,017 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,054 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.14% of Lear worth $10,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Old North State Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Lear by 2,027.3% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 234 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 545 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 629 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LEA shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Lear from $143.00 to $140.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lear from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Cowen lifted their target price on Lear from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Lear in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, 888 reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Lear in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.23.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In other news, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 8,000 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total transaction of $1,136,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,415 shares in the company, valued at $2,756,930. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total value of $1,136,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,756,930. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Greg C. Smith sold 2,221 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.93, for a total value of $277,469.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,871 shares of company stock worth $3,174,001 in the last three months. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lear Stock Up 0.9 %

LEA opened at $126.13 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.53. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $114.67 and a 52 week high of $158.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $131.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.91.

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

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 8th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.