Barclays Cuts Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Price Target to $375.00

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $415.00 to $375.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $490.00 price objective on shares of Lithia Motors in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $455.00 to $409.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Benchmark boosted their target price on Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $402.60.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

NYSE LAD opened at $288.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Lithia Motors has a twelve month low of $239.78 and a twelve month high of $439.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $349.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $312.77.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.73 by $1.30. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.24 EPS. Lithia Motors’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors will post 35.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is 9.29%.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Stacy Congdon sold 75 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.73, for a total value of $27,804.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,300 shares in the company, valued at $852,679. The trade was a 3.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lithia Motors

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter worth $696,482,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,389,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,074,000 after buying an additional 43,087 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $246,814,000 after buying an additional 186,628 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 229,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,119,000 after buying an additional 21,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the second quarter worth about $66,988,000.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc, doing business as Lithia & Driveway (NYSE:LAD), is an automotive retailer that operates a network of franchised dealerships and other vehicle-sales businesses. The company sells new and used vehicles from a broad range of automobile manufacturers, including domestic, import and luxury brands.

In addition to vehicle sales, Lithia & Driveway provides automotive financing and insurance products, maintenance and repair services, replacement parts, collision services and other related offerings.