GAM Holding AG Buys Shares of 17,429 Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,429 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,651,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Lear by 7.3% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,714,653 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $842,054,000 after acquiring an additional 526,763 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,842,247 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $174,461,000 after purchasing an additional 22,601 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Lear by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,713,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $187,046,000 after purchasing an additional 206,822 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lear by 24.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,264,090 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $137,975,000 after purchasing an additional 247,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lear by 4.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,476 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $124,621,000 after buying an additional 44,128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LEA. Barclays lowered their target price on Lear from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $142.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lear from $147.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.00.

Lear Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Lear stock opened at $96.47 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42. Lear Co. has a 12-month low of $86.28 and a 12-month high of $147.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 2.17%. Analysts predict that Lear Co. will post 13.29 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend 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.