Legal & General Group Plc Sells 6,549 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 98,060 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 6,549 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.18% of Lear worth $9,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 187.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 68.2% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Lear by 233.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 410 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Lear by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 427 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lear by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 491 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Lear

In related news, Director Rod Lache acquired 2,178 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.80 per share, for a total transaction of $199,940.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,940.40. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LEA shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Lear from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lear from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $117.00) on shares of Lear in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Lear from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.91.

Lear Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of LEA stock traded up $2.34 on Wednesday, hitting $83.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 62,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 745,599. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $89.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.79. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $73.85 and a fifty-two week high of $138.69.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Lear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.45%.

Lear 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.