Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD Shares Bought by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 48.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 142,812 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,391 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $35,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lithia Motors by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Lithia Motors by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 403 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $246,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP grew its holdings 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 during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LAD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $348.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.33.

Lithia Motors Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Lithia Motors stock opened at $341.04 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $302.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $239.78 and a twelve month high of $360.55. The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.26.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 1.88%.The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 26th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lithia Motors

In other news, Director Richard J. Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,233.20. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the sale, the director owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,780.84. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 782 shares of company stock valued at $229,572. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

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.