Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) to Buyback $500.00 million in Stock

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 26th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $335.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.22.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAD traded up $6.45 on Tuesday, reaching $283.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 290,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 320,335. Lithia Motors has a 52-week low of $239.78 and a 52-week high of $360.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $298.58. The company has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $7.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors will post 34.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.01%.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In related news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 245 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.64, for a total transaction of $72,186.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,905.44. The trade was a 11.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate 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.