Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Director Congdon Stacy Loretz Sells 75 Shares of Stock

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) Director Congdon Stacy Loretz sold 75 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $23,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $748,125. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

NYSE:LAD opened at $309.64 on Tuesday. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a one year low of $239.78 and a one year 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 cap of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $282.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.75.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.06 by $0.28. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.37 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 26th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 yield of 0.7%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LAD shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $335.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.11.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 4.6% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 0.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter.

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.