Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Price Target to $299.00

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $302.00 to $299.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on LAD. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Guggenheim raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $338.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $315.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $337.70.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of Lithia Motors stock opened at $315.37 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Lithia Motors has a twelve month low of $231.36 and a twelve month high of $331.96. The stock has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $295.45 and its 200 day moving average is $273.59.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $7.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.09 by $0.78. The business had revenue of $9.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.29 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $10.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lithia Motors will post 28.74 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 11,938 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.86, for a total value of $3,472,286.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,417,080.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lithia Motors news, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 11,938 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.86, for a total value of $3,472,286.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,417,080.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 10,777 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.93, for a total transaction of $2,973,697.61. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 35,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,754,677.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,021 shares of company stock worth $6,534,617. Insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,397,000 after acquiring an additional 9,818 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 132.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,758,000 after acquiring an additional 10,920 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $607,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 89.0% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 29,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,867,000 after buying an additional 13,875 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 203,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,318,000 after buying an additional 20,416 shares during the period.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer worldwide. It operates in two segments, Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations. The company’s Vehicle Operations segment sells new and used vehicles; provides parts, repair, and maintenance services; vehicle finance; and insurance products. Its Financing Operations segment provides financing to customers buying and leasing retail vehicles.