Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Price Target Lowered to $360.00 at Barclays

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $370.00 to $360.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $305.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $348.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $326.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.33.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAD opened at $331.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $293.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.26. Lithia Motors has a fifty-two week low of $239.78 and a fifty-two week high of $360.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.06 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 1.88%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors will post 34.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is presently 8.01%.

Lithia Motors declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 26th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,780.84. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard J. Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.57, for a total value of $83,329.29. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,233.20. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 782 shares of company stock valued at $229,572 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lithia Motors

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAD. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 403 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Lithia Motors by 4.6% in the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP grew its position in Lithia Motors by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 4,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc is an American automotive retailer headquartered in Medford, Oregon. Founded in 1946 as a small auto body and glass shop, the company has grown through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest automotive retail networks in North America. Lithia operates dealerships across the United States and Canada, offering a broad portfolio of new and pre-owned vehicles from more than 40 different manufacturers.

The company’s core business activities include vehicle sales, financing, insurance, parts and service.