Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 25.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,016,520 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 203,543 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 3.71% of Lithia Motors worth $256,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LAD. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 83.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 80.2% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 12,500.0% in the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Lithia Motors in the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Lithia Motors in the first quarter valued at about $114,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LAD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $315.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lithia Motors from $266.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim raised Lithia Motors from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $338.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.00.

Lithia Motors Stock Performance

NYSE:LAD opened at $286.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.36 and a 12-month high of $331.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $277.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.64.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $7.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.09 by $0.78. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 2.52%. The business had revenue of $9.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 28.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 6.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 11,938 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.86, for a total value of $3,472,286.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,417,080.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Lithia Motors news, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 11,938 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.86, for a total value of $3,472,286.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,417,080.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 10,777 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.93, for a total value of $2,973,697.61. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,754,677.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,021 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,617 in the last quarter. 1.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Lithia Motors

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. Its Financing Operations segment provides financing to customers buying and leasing retail vehicles.