Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $402.60

Shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $402.60.

LAD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lithia Motors from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $358.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $490.00 price target on shares of Lithia Motors in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Lithia Motors from $440.00 to $335.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Stacy Congdon sold 75 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.73, for a total value of $27,804.75. Following the sale, the director owned 2,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,679. This represents a 3.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAD. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lithia Motors in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Lithia Motors by 1,311.1% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Lithia Motors by 225.5% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Lithia Motors by 68.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Lithia Motors stock opened at $295.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.27. Lithia Motors has a one year low of $239.78 and a one year high of $439.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $340.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $314.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.73 by $1.30. The business had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.64 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.24 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Lithia Motors will post 35.70 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is presently 9.29%.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc, doing business as Lithia & Driveway (NYSE:LAD), is an automotive retailer that operates a network of franchised dealerships and other vehicle-sales businesses. The company sells new and used vehicles from a broad range of automobile manufacturers, including domestic, import and luxury brands.

In addition to vehicle sales, Lithia & Driveway provides automotive financing and insurance products, maintenance and repair services, replacement parts, collision services and other related offerings.