Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its Lithia Motors stake by 6.1% in Q4 to 2,422,737 shares, leaving it with roughly a 9.99% ownership worth about $805.1 million.
• Analysts are split—six Buy and six Hold—resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.67.
• Lithia beat quarterly EPS estimates ($7.34 vs. $7.06), reported $9.27B in revenue, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.57 (annualized $2.28).

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,422,737 shares of the company's stock after selling 156,203 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.99% of Lithia Motors worth $805,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAD. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Lithia Motors by 13.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 8,474 shares of the company's stock worth $2,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Lithia Motors by 67.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 113,346 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,272,000 after buying an additional 45,716 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Lithia Motors by 16.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 93,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,349,000 after buying an additional 13,407 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Lithia Motors by 16.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,430 shares of the company's stock valued at $821,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Lithia Motors during the second quarter valued at about $651,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAD has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $335.00 to $320.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Lithia Motors in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $326.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.67.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAD opened at $290.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $267.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $302.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 12 month low of $239.78 and a 12 month high of $360.55.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.58 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Lithia Motors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Lithia Motors's payout ratio is currently 7.72%.

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.

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