Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Raises Position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,439 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEA. Capital International Investors raised its position in Lear by 47.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,064,807 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $437,259,000 after purchasing an additional 993,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lear during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,288,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Lear during the second quarter valued at about $63,478,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Lear by 236.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 577,690 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $77,526,000 after purchasing an additional 405,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lear by 134.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 600,643 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $74,492,000 after buying an additional 344,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of Lear stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares in the company, valued at $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Raymond E. Scott sold 10,652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.86, for a total value of $1,415,224.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,483.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total transaction of $387,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,465,019.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lear from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Lear from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Lear from $195.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lear from $130.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lear from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.44.

Lear Stock Performance

Lear stock opened at $131.93 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.54. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.79 and a fifty-two week high of $157.90.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Lear’s payout ratio is 31.82%.

Lear Company 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.