VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Sells 4,450 Shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al cut its position in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 71.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,450 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AGP Franklin LLC boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 0.3% during the third quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 10,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 0.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,434,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 4.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 1.4% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter.

Lithia Motors Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE LAD opened at $261.67 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $267.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.48. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $239.78 and a fifty-two week high of $360.55. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.06 by $0.28. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 1.88%.The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lithia Motors

In other news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 245 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was 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. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $326.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.22.

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.