Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 400 Shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in shares of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,012 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $2,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAD. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 4.1% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 33.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 35,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,385,000 after acquiring an additional 8,862 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 20,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 95.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 12,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,736,000 after acquiring an additional 6,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Lithia Motors in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,608,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LAD. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lithia Motors from $290.00 to $248.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim downgraded Lithia Motors from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Lithia Motors from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.45.

Lithia Motors Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:LAD opened at $252.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $260.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.07. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.36 and a 1 year high of $331.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $6.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.85 by ($1.74). Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 2.87%. The company had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 28.79 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This is an increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Shauna Mcintyre sold 138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.42, for a total value of $35,109.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,228 shares in the company, valued at $566,847.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lithia Motors Profile

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer worldwide. It operates in two segments, Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations. The company's Vehicle Operations segment sells new and used vehicles; provides parts, repair, and maintenance services; vehicle finance; and insurance products.