Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Given New $370.00 Price Target at Barclays

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $380.00 to $370.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

LAD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $399.00 to $366.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Lithia Motors from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $335.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $358.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $381.22.

Lithia Motors Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:LAD opened at $261.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $307.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.26. Lithia Motors has a one year low of $239.78 and a one year high of $360.55.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $6.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.09 by ($1.35). The company had revenue of $9.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.19 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.79 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors will post 34.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 6.85%.

Institutional Trading of Lithia Motors

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter worth $125,214,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 742,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,814,000 after acquiring an additional 186,628 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter worth $58,409,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lithia Motors in the 3rd quarter worth $39,342,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 8,474.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 107,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,789,000 after acquiring an additional 106,434 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.