First Heartland Consultants Inc. Buys 1,509 Shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. grew its position in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA) by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,209 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. First Heartland Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Lear were worth $595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Lear in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Lear during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Lear by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 373 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Lear in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Lear in the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. 97.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Conrad L. Mallett, Jr. sold 1,278 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $159,174.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lear from $132.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Lear from $179.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Lear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Lear from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lear has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.56.

Lear Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of LEA stock traded up $1.45 on Monday, hitting $118.22. 112,465 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 644,836. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.37. Lear Co. has a one year low of $107.25 and a one year high of $147.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Lear (NYSE:LEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during 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 revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 13.13 EPS for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Lear’s payout ratio is 33.59%.

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.