Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

ALV has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Autoliv from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Pareto Securities cut Autoliv to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Autoliv from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. HSBC cut Autoliv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $109.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Autoliv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.23.

Autoliv Stock Up 6.0 %

Shares of Autoliv stock opened at $98.08 on Wednesday. Autoliv has a 1 year low of $89.51 and a 1 year high of $129.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $96.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.55. The company has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.21. Autoliv had a return on equity of 28.62% and a net margin of 6.21%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Autoliv will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Autoliv Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Autoliv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mikael Bratt sold 5,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.90, for a total value of $569,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 23,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,305,062.30. This trade represents a 19.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Per Jonas Jademyr sold 401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.85, for a total value of $39,638.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,712.25. The trade was a 36.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,253 shares of company stock valued at $915,534 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Autoliv

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Autoliv by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,146,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $670,270,000 after purchasing an additional 641,895 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Autoliv during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,761,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Autoliv by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,382,265 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $223,433,000 after purchasing an additional 351,876 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Autoliv by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 701,994 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $65,840,000 after purchasing an additional 284,002 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Autoliv during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,749,000. 69.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Autoliv

Autoliv, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and supplies passive safety systems to the automotive industry in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, and rest of Asia. It offers passive safety systems, including modules and components for frontal-impact airbag protection systems, side-impact airbag protection systems, seatbelts, steering wheels, and inflator technologies.