Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Acquired by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 116,261 shares of the auto parts company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,582 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A. owned 0.20% of Lear worth $13,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LEA. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lear by 6.7% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,166 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Pettee Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 17.3% in the second quarter. Pettee Investors Inc. now owns 16,676 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 15.2% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP grew its position in shares of Lear by 9.0% in the second quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 3,763 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd increased its stake in shares of Lear by 51,666.7% during the 2nd quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 3,106 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LEA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $153.56.

Lear Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:LEA traded down $3.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $110.30. 569,293 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 635,584. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $115.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.94. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.45. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $107.25 and a 12-month high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34.

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

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.59%.

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.