Richard Bailey Jr Sells 297 Shares of Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Stock

Key Points

• Director Richard Bailey Jr. sold 297 shares of Lithia Motors at an average price of $280.57, trimming his stake by 28.1% and generating about $83,329.
• Lithia Motors reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $7.34 beating estimates and revenue of $9.27 billion slightly above expectations.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.57 per share and also launched a $500 million share buyback program, equal to about 7.9% of outstanding shares.

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD - Get Free Report) Director Richard Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.57, for a total transaction of $83,329.29. Following the sale, the director directly owned 760 shares in the company, valued at $213,233.20. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Lithia Motors Stock Up 3.5%

NYSE:LAD traded up $9.97 on Wednesday, hitting $293.02. 289,289 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 319,435. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $268.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $298.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.24. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 52 week low of $239.78 and a 52 week high of $360.55. The company has a market cap of $6.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.06 by $0.28. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from Lithia Motors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Lithia Motors's payout ratio is currently 8.01%.

Lithia Motors announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 26th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter valued at about $125,214,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Lithia Motors by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 742,677 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,814,000 after buying an additional 186,628 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Lithia Motors in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,409,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Lithia Motors by 8,474.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 107,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,789,000 after buying an additional 106,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Lithia Motors by 183.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 162,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,149,000 after buying an additional 105,478 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LAD shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lithia Motors from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Lithia Motors from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lithia Motors from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.30.

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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