Wall Street Zen Downgrades Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) to Sell

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on LAD. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $326.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Lithia Motors from $348.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.33.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of LAD opened at $330.44 on Monday. Lithia Motors has a 12 month low of $239.78 and a 12 month high of $360.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $298.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.73. The company has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.26.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.06 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors will post 34.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 26th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Richard J. Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.57, for a total value of $83,329.29. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 760 shares in the company, valued at $213,233.20. This represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,780.84. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 782 shares of company stock valued at $229,572 over the last 90 days. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 1,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.2% during the second quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 9,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,716,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.7% during the second quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,648,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 42 shares during 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.