Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) to Issue $0.53 Quarterly Dividend

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.53 per share on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

Lithia Motors has increased its dividend by an average of 16.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Lithia Motors has a dividend payout ratio of 6.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lithia Motors to earn $33.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.3%.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAD opened at $369.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 1.18. Lithia Motors has a 52 week low of $243.00 and a 52 week high of $375.08. The firm has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $308.28 and its 200-day moving average is $279.73.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.60 by $0.61. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 2.31%. The firm had revenue of $9.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Lithia Motors will post 28.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Chris Holzshu sold 8,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.21, for a total transaction of $2,855,989.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 32,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,744,821.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lithia Motors news, COO Chris Holzshu sold 8,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.21, for a total transaction of $2,855,989.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 32,054 shares in the company, valued at $10,744,821.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 11,938 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.86, for a total value of $3,472,286.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,417,080.94. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,235 shares of company stock valued at $9,301,973 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LAD shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $225.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $375.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $353.80.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer worldwide. It operates in two segments, Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations. The company’s Vehicle Operations segment sells new and used vehicles; provides parts, repair, and maintenance services; vehicle finance; and insurance products. Its Financing Operations segment provides financing to customers buying and leasing retail vehicles.