Macquarie Group Ltd. Sells 429 Shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD)

Macquarie Group Ltd. cut its position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD – Get Rating) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,469 shares of the company’s stock after selling 429 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.15% of Lithia Motors worth $8,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in Lithia Motors by 33.6% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,289,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,618,000 after purchasing an additional 324,492 shares in the last quarter. MFN Partners Management LP raised its holdings in Lithia Motors by 13.3% in the second quarter. MFN Partners Management LP now owns 851,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,884,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 807,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,459,000 after acquiring an additional 29,352 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 6.0% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 587,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,064,000 after acquiring an additional 33,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 256,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,042,000 after acquiring an additional 9,621 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lithia Motors Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:LAD opened at $256.38 on Tuesday. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 1 year low of $180.00 and a 1 year high of $341.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $246.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.17.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $9.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.11 by ($1.06). The firm had revenue of $6.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.08 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 25.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $11.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 35.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $343.00 to $332.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Lithia Motors in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $301.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $43,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $434,720. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

About Lithia Motors

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Lithia Motors, Inc engages in the operation of automotive franchises and retail of new and used vehicles. It operates through the following segments: Domestic, Import and Luxury. The Domestic segment consists of retail automotive franchises that sell new vehicles manufactured by Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford.