Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,507 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its position in Lear by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 410,908 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $38,913,000 after purchasing an additional 77,691 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Lear by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,742,000 after buying an additional 12,094 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Lear by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 39,465 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,759,000 after acquiring an additional 5,711 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lear in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,946,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Lear by 7.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 144,282 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,748,000 after acquiring an additional 9,774 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on LEA. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lear from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lear from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lear from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lear presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.09.

Lear Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEA opened at $89.46 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. Lear Co. has a twelve month low of $86.28 and a twelve month high of $147.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.61.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.44. Lear had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 14.70%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.45%.

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.