Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Stock Price

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $343.00 to $346.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $375.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 report on Friday, September 27th. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Lithia Motors in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.73.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAD opened at $360.62 on Wednesday. Lithia Motors has a twelve month low of $243.00 and a twelve month high of $405.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $369.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.45. The company has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.61. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The firm had revenue of $9.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lithia Motors will post 29.42 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 7.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, CFO Tina Miller sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.72, for a total value of $392,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,466.16. This represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Gary M. Glandon sold 242 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $382.86, for a total transaction of $92,652.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $661,964.94. This represents a 12.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,290 shares of company stock valued at $17,959,596. Corporate insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LAD. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,016,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,621,000 after buying an additional 203,543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 46.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 10,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,650,000 after buying an additional 3,313 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $663,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 50.3% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 1,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period.

About Lithia Motors

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.