Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) Shares Acquired by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173,500 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,800 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned approximately 0.65% of Lithia Motors worth $55,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 14.7% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,700,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,390,000 after purchasing an additional 217,867 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lithia Motors by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,016,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,621,000 after purchasing an additional 203,543 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in Lithia Motors by 1,960.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 126,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,311,000 after buying an additional 120,749 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lithia Motors by 118.9% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,609,000 after buying an additional 87,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 12.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 753,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,204,000 after buying an additional 85,579 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $375.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $225.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lithia Motors from $299.00 to $343.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 6,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,696,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,445 shares in the company, valued at $69,778,000. This trade represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 10,777 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.93, for a total transaction of $2,973,697.61. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,352 shares in the company, valued at $9,754,677.36. This represents a 23.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,067 shares of company stock valued at $20,933,294 over the last three months. 1.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lithia Motors Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE LAD opened at $386.90 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $340.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $293.68. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.00 and a 52 week high of $405.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 6.34 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.61. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The company had revenue of $9.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 7.24%.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

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.