Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 29,373 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $2,782,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.05% of Lear as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Lear in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lear by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 266 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Lear by 240.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 303 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Lear by 71.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on LEA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $134.18.

Lear Stock Performance

NYSE:LEA traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.93. 523,925 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 572,571. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $90.42 and a twelve month high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

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.