Tina Miller Sells 1,000 Shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) Stock

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) CFO Tina Miller sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.72, for a total transaction of $392,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,466.16. The trade was a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

NYSE LAD traded down $4.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $386.16. The company had a trading volume of 150,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 261,999. The firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.00 and a fifty-two week high of $405.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $334.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.59.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.60 by $0.61. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $9.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 29.42 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lithia Motors

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LAD. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lithia Motors presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.60.

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.