Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Position Lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 118,684 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 14,706 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.22% of Lear worth $12,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Lear by 7.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,748,000 after purchasing an additional 9,774 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Lear by 18.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 196,829 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $21,015,000 after acquiring an additional 30,529 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Lear in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lear by 10.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Lear by 63.5% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,426 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 1,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on 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 Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered Lear from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $134.18.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA stock traded down $1.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $90.93. The company had a trading volume of 523,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 572,571. The firm has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.43. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $90.42 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

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.