Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,228,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP lifted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 4,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Lithia Motors by 32.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LAD. Barclays upped their price target on Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lithia Motors currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.33.

Insider Transactions at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.64, for a total value of $50,430.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $513,780.84. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of Lithia Motors stock opened at $372.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $348.53 and a 200 day moving average of $302.77. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 12 month low of $239.78 and a 12 month high of $439.49.

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 net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The company had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.29%.

Lithia Motors announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Lithia Motors Company Profile

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.