Stifel Financial Corp Purchases 7,910 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 15.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 59,369 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,910 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Lear were worth $6,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Lear during the 2nd quarter valued at $530,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Lear during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,946,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Lear by 36.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 504,091 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Lear by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,221 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after purchasing an additional 6,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Lear by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,385 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. 97.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lear Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of LEA stock opened at $98.38 on Friday. Lear Co. has a 1-year low of $92.14 and a 1-year high of $147.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. Lear’s payout ratio is presently 32.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LEA. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lear in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays lowered Lear from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Lear from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.25.

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.