PDT Partners LLC Takes Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. $LAD

PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $407,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position 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 period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 4.6% in the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 32.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $490.00 price target on shares of Lithia Motors in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Lithia Motors from $350.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Lithia Motors from $365.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.33.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

Shares of Lithia Motors stock opened at $372.07 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $342.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $301.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 12 month low of $239.78 and a 12 month high of $439.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 36 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors declared that its board has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.29%.

Lithia Motors 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.