Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 2,081 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,081 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake 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 valued at $174,382,000 after buying an additional 149,958 shares during the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lear by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 9,995 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Lear by 36.7% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 273,942 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,763,000 after buying an additional 73,559 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lear by 29.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 45,916 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $6,162,000 after buying an additional 10,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Lear by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 25,528 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,605,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lear

In other Lear news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Lear news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total transaction of $1,415,224.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $132.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $139.12 and a 200 day moving average of $135.89. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $117.79 and a 1 year high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Lear’s payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LEA shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Lear from $195.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.44.

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.