Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lear (NYSE:LEA) Stock Price

Lear (NYSE:LEA) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the auto parts company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 37.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays downgraded Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Lear from $144.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Lear from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.25.

Lear Stock Performance

LEA stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $98.46. 133,384 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 656,552. Lear has a 1-year low of $94.29 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The firm has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $104.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. Lear’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lear will post 12.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Lear

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Lear by 11,753.3% during the 2nd 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 grew its position in Lear by 15.2% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,187,890 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $820,929,000 after purchasing an additional 946,109 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $64,083,000 after buying an additional 300,667 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 9.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

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.