1,844 Shares in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD Acquired by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 4.6% in the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 4,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 32.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, the director directly owned 760 shares in the company, valued at $213,233.20. The trade was a 28.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total transaction of $50,430.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at $513,780.84. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 537 shares of company stock valued at $157,385 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $436.33.

Lithia Motors Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:LAD opened at $370.32 on Friday. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 52 week low of $239.78 and a 52 week high of $439.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $336.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.73 by $1.30. The firm had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 1.88%.The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $10.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is presently 9.29%.

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.