Inspire Investing LLC Buys 478 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,256 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 478 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Lear were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Lear by 9.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after acquiring an additional 12,094 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Lear by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,759,000 after purchasing an additional 5,711 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Lear in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,946,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,748,000 after purchasing an additional 9,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 39.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,316,000 after purchasing an additional 6,055 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.73.

Lear Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $96.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $95.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.33. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $90.03 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.43.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.39%.

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.