Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

LAD has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $299.00 to $343.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $375.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $357.60.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of Lithia Motors stock opened at $344.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $368.47 and a 200 day moving average of $314.00. Lithia Motors has a 12 month low of $243.00 and a 12 month high of $405.67.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.60 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $9.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.46 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lithia Motors will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.24%.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 15,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.72, for a total value of $6,127,965.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 207,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,408,369.28. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gary M. Glandon sold 242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.86, for a total transaction of $92,652.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $661,964.94. This trade represents a 12.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,290 shares of company stock valued at $17,959,596 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lithia Motors

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Lithia Motors by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,700,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,390,000 after acquiring an additional 217,867 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,016,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,621,000 after purchasing an additional 203,543 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 12.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 753,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,204,000 after purchasing an additional 85,579 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 27.5% during the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 365,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,997,000 after purchasing an additional 78,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tensile Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 2.4% during the third quarter. Tensile Capital Management LP now owns 261,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,071,000 after purchasing an additional 6,252 shares during the period.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer worldwide. It operates in two segments, Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations. The company’s Vehicle Operations segment sells new and used vehicles; provides parts, repair, and maintenance services; vehicle finance; and insurance products. Its Financing Operations segment provides financing to customers buying and leasing retail vehicles.