Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $135.3571.

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALV. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Autoliv in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Autoliv in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Autoliv from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Autoliv from $129.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $143.00 price objective on shares of Autoliv in a report on Monday, January 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Franz-Josef Kortuem sold 8,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.40, for a total value of $999,320.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,549 shares in the company, valued at $668,099.60. This represents a 59.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Magnus Jarlegren sold 1,598 shares of Autoliv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.61, for a total value of $194,332.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,139.79. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 22,243 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,735 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Autoliv

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its position in Autoliv by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,976,700 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $353,334,000 after purchasing an additional 375,454 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Autoliv by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,562,641 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $304,185,000 after purchasing an additional 28,415 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Autoliv by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,881,828 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $223,385,000 after purchasing an additional 37,661 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Autoliv by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,867,396 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $221,660,000 after buying an additional 21,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Autoliv by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,681,609 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $199,607,000 after buying an additional 101,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.57% of the company’s stock.

Autoliv Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALV opened at $100.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $116.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.49. Autoliv has a 1-year low of $75.49 and a 1-year high of $130.14. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.32.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The auto parts company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.34. Autoliv had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.05 EPS. Autoliv’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Autoliv will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Autoliv Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Autoliv’s payout ratio is presently 36.40%.

Autoliv Company Profile

Autoliv Inc (NYSE: ALV) is a leading global supplier of automotive safety systems, specializing in the design, development and manufacture of passive and active safety products. Its core product portfolio includes airbags, seatbelts, steering wheels, restraint control modules and pedestrian protection systems. In recent years, the company has also expanded into active safety technologies, offering radar, camera and sensor solutions that support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving applications.

Founded in 1997 following the spin-off of Electrolux’s automotive safety business, Autoliv has evolved into a multinational organization with a presence in over 27 countries.