Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 98.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,880 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,969 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LAD. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Lithia Motors by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 842 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP increased its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 4,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 716 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LAD. UBS Group lowered shares of Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $365.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Lithia Motors from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $430.22.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at $513,780.84. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard J. Bailey, Jr. sold 297 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 537 shares of company stock valued at $157,385. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAD opened at $379.91 on Tuesday. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $239.78 and a fifty-two week high of $439.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.56. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.73 by $1.30. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 1.88%.The firm had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 35.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is presently 9.29%.

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

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.