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

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price target trimmed by Barclays from $370.00 to $360.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $348.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price 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, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lithia Motors from $305.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.33.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Lithia Motors stock opened at $335.33 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $296.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.26. Lithia Motors has a one year low of $239.78 and a one year high of $360.55.

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

Lithia Motors declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Lithia Motors

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Lithia Motors by 1,062.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 11,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after purchasing an additional 10,118 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Lithia Motors in the fourth quarter worth $58,409,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 284,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,490,000 after purchasing an additional 21,168 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 244,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,295,000 after buying an additional 15,832 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 140.7% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 11,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,787,000 after buying an additional 6,661 shares during the period.

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.