Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys Shares of 60,113 Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 60,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,219,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at about $696,482,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lithia Motors during the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,214,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,988,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Lithia Motors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,015,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $246,814,000 after buying an additional 186,628 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LAD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $306.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Lithia Motors from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $490.00 price target on shares of Lithia Motors in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $436.33.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

LAD opened at $372.07 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $342.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $301.37. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 52-week low of $239.78 and a 52-week high of $439.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.73 by $1.30. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 9.29%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $513,780.84. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.