Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Purchases 238,964 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 9.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,754,752 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 238,964 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $314,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LEA. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Lear in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Lear in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Lear in the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 64,398 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,336 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Lear in the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the company’s stock.

Lear Stock Performance

NYSE LEA opened at $104.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.96. Lear Co. has a 1 year low of $101.67 and a 1 year high of $147.11.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.02 billion. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lear Co. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Lear’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Lear in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.40.

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.