Brooklyn Investment Group Raises Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 427 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Lear were worth $40,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Lear by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 115,324 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $10,921,000 after acquiring an additional 9,290 shares during the period. Lakewood Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Lear by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $943,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lear during the fourth quarter worth $2,782,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Lear by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after purchasing an additional 5,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lear in the fourth quarter valued at $277,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:LEA opened at $94.22 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.24. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $90.03 and a 12-month high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.32. Lear had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. Lear’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LEA. Barclays lowered shares of Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Lear from $106.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.18.

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.