VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Decreases Stock Holdings in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al decreased its holdings in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 71.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,450 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Lithia Motors in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Lithia Motors by 75.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 105 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Lithia Motors during the third quarter valued at $46,000.

Insider Transactions at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 245 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.64, for a total value of $72,186.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,905.44. The trade was a 11.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LAD. Barclays reduced their price objective on Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Lithia Motors from $335.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, April 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.22.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

NYSE:LAD opened at $261.67 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.48. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 52-week low of $239.78 and a 52-week high of $360.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.06 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.26 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is presently 8.01%.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

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.