Sandy Spring Bank Decreases Holdings in Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV)

Sandy Spring Bank lessened its stake in shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 555 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Autoliv were worth $52,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new stake in Autoliv during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in Autoliv by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 1,378,636 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $133,259,000 after buying an additional 59,592 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Autoliv during the fourth quarter worth about $1,095,000. Lancaster Investment Management boosted its position in Autoliv by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Lancaster Investment Management now owns 568,821 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $53,350,000 after purchasing an additional 85,732 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Autoliv by 74.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 314 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Autoliv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Autoliv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Autoliv in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Autoliv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Autoliv from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Autoliv news, CEO Mikael Bratt sold 5,760 shares of Autoliv stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.90, for a total transaction of $569,664.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 23,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,305,062.30. This trade represents a 19.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Fredrik Westin sold 1,803 shares of Autoliv stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.19, for a total transaction of $178,839.57. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,261 shares in the company, valued at $720,218.59. This trade represents a 19.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,253 shares of company stock valued at $915,534. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Autoliv Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Autoliv stock opened at $89.39 on Friday. Autoliv, Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.55 and a 1 year high of $129.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.77.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.21. Autoliv had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 28.62%. Analysts expect that Autoliv, Inc. will post 9.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Autoliv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Autoliv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.70%.

Autoliv Company Profile

Autoliv, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and supplies passive safety systems to the automotive industry in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, and rest of Asia. It offers passive safety systems, including modules and components for frontal-impact airbag protection systems, side-impact airbag protection systems, seatbelts, steering wheels, and inflator technologies.