Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stock Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 5,544.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,975 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,692 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned about 0.07% of Lithia Motors worth $3,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,346,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,583,000 after buying an additional 6,113 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 742,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,814,000 after purchasing an additional 186,628 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 612,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,873,000 after purchasing an additional 33,966 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 426,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,654,000 after acquiring an additional 14,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lithia Motors in the fourth quarter worth approximately $125,214,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $348.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $305.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard J. Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 245 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.64, for a total value of $72,186.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,905.44. This trade represents a 11.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 782 shares of company stock worth $229,572. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAD opened at $335.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $296.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.13. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $239.78 and a twelve month high of $360.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.26.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.06 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.01%.

Lithia Motors announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.