State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) by 33.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,584 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,656 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Lear were worth $2,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $842,054,000 after buying an additional 526,763 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $137,975,000 after buying an additional 247,312 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $187,046,000 after buying an additional 206,822 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 7,452.3% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 173,855 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $16,129,000 after buying an additional 171,553 shares during the period. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lear by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 595,615 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $56,405,000 after buying an additional 121,734 shares during the period. 97.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $127.00.

Lear Price Performance

NYSE:LEA opened at $96.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $94.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.50. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. Lear Co. has a 52 week low of $86.28 and a 52 week high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Lear's payout ratio is 34.45%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.