Alberta Investment Management Corp Grows Holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 414,009 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 118,560 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned about 0.76% of Lear worth $39,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in Lear by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $842,054,000 after purchasing an additional 526,763 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,842,247 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $174,461,000 after acquiring an additional 22,601 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Lear by 13.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $187,046,000 after acquiring an additional 206,822 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Lear by 24.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $137,975,000 after acquiring an additional 247,312 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 4.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,476 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $124,621,000 after acquiring an additional 44,128 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven 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.com, Lear has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $127.00.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of Lear stock traded down $1.17 on Friday, reaching $96.43. The stock had a trading volume of 460,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,296. The business's 50 day moving average is $94.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.50. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $86.28 and a 1 year high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.45%.

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.