Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 20,753 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 904,817 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 20,753 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Lear were worth $129,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchased a new stake in Lear during the first quarter valued at approximately $657,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in 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. increased its holdings in 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 increased its holdings in 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 own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other news, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 10,310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $1,598,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,411,275. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Carl A. Esposito sold 10,310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $1,598,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,411,275. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.57, for a total transaction of $416,817.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,134.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,392 shares of company stock worth $3,931,260 over the last 90 days. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEA. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $182.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Lear from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 1st. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $152.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lear from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.45.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA opened at $138.23 on Friday. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $114.67 and a fifty-two week high of $157.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $146.67 and a 200 day moving average of $138.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.60.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The auto parts company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.12. Lear had a net margin of 2.32% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The business had revenue of $6 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.79 earnings per share. Lear’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 11.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.16%.

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.