The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes $42.72 Million Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 147,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,718,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LAD. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Lithia Motors during the second quarter valued at approximately $696,482,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 43,087 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 186,628 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 612,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,873,000 after acquiring an additional 33,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 426,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,654,000 after acquiring an additional 14,781 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Lithia Motors from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark upped their price target on Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group downgraded Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lithia Motors currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.33.

Lithia Motors Stock Down 0.6%

LAD opened at $369.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 1.00. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $239.78 and a fifty-two week high of $439.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $341.26 and its 200 day moving average is $301.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total transaction of $50,430.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,780.84. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

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.