Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 41.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,264 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 12,090 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Lear were worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Lear during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,260,000. Empirical Finance LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the 2nd quarter worth $527,000. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Lear by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 11,968 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the second quarter valued at about $157,000. Finally, OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lear by 23.1% in the second quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,682 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $649,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lear Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of LEA stock traded down $3.38 on Friday, reaching $110.30. 569,293 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 635,584. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business's 50 day moving average price is $115.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.45. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.33 earnings per share. Lear's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Lear's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LEA shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Lear from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $153.56.

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.