BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Cuts Holdings in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S decreased its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,189 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 718 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Lear were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lear by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,237,016 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $174,382,000 after acquiring an additional 149,958 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lear by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 107,582 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $15,192,000 after buying an additional 49,070 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Lear during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,356,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Lear during the fourth quarter worth about $2,316,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Lear by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 981,669 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $138,595,000 after acquiring an additional 391,949 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lear

In other news, CFO Jason M. Cardew sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.81, for a total value of $387,227.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,465,019.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lear Stock Performance

Shares of LEA stock opened at $126.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.33. Lear Co. has a fifty-two week low of $121.38 and a fifty-two week high of $157.90. The company has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $135.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.50.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. Lear had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 2.28%. Lear’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Lear’s payout ratio is 33.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Lear from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on Lear from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lear from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.44.

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.