Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 183,675 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 757.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 207,935 shares of the auto parts company's stock after acquiring an additional 183,675 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.37% of Lear worth $23,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lear by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lear during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,611,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Lear by 970.4% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 540,850 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $76,373,000 after purchasing an additional 490,324 shares during the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its position in Lear by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,067,888 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $150,796,000 after buying an additional 380,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of Lear by 196.7% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 319,156 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $46,239,000 after buying an additional 211,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Lear Trading Up 0.6 %

LEA traded up $0.60 on Thursday, hitting $104.03. 773,463 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 640,182. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $101.67 and a 12 month high of $147.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear's payout ratio is 33.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEA. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $136.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.40.

About Lear

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.