Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 31.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,226 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 58,857 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.24% of Lear worth $14,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Lear by 11,753.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,016,778 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $116,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,200 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Lear by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,871,346 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $213,726,000 after buying an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Lear by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,100 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $64,083,000 after buying an additional 300,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 9.5% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $314,620,000 after acquiring an additional 238,964 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LEA shares. Barclays cut shares of Lear from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lear from $114.00 to $106.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lear currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $140.25.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.61. 746,923 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 776,560. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $103.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.78. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $94.29 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 12.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.