JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) Price Target to $320.00

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $340.00 to $320.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Lithia Motors from $455.00 to $409.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lithia Motors from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lithia Motors from $306.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on Lithia Motors from $415.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.60.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of LAD stock opened at $288.66 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.77. Lithia Motors has a 52 week low of $239.78 and a 52 week high of $439.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.27.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.73 by $1.30. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $10.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors will post 35.97 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.29%.

Insider Transactions at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Stacy Congdon sold 75 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.73, for a total transaction of $27,804.75. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,679. This trade represents a 3.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the second quarter valued at approximately $696,482,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Lithia Motors by 3.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,389,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,074,000 after purchasing an additional 43,087 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Lithia Motors by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 742,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,814,000 after purchasing an additional 186,628 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Lithia Motors by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 229,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,119,000 after purchasing an additional 21,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at $66,988,000.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

Lithia Motors, Inc, doing business as Lithia & Driveway (NYSE:LAD), is an automotive retailer that operates a network of franchised dealerships and other vehicle-sales businesses. The company sells new and used vehicles from a broad range of automobile manufacturers, including domestic, import and luxury brands.

In addition to vehicle sales, Lithia & Driveway provides automotive financing and insurance products, maintenance and repair services, replacement parts, collision services and other related offerings.