Cercano Management LLC Takes Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD)

Cercano Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 38,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,866,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MFN Partners Management LP boosted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. MFN Partners Management LP now owns 1,551,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,568,000 after buying an additional 351,163 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 1.8% during the first quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,406,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,919,000 after buying an additional 24,341 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 3.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 807,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,459,000 after buying an additional 29,352 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 2.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 790,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,080,000 after purchasing an additional 16,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Lithia Motors by 34.1% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,775,000 after purchasing an additional 138,560 shares during the last quarter.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

NYSE:LAD traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $297.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 114,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,516. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.40. The company has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $180.00 and a twelve month high of $329.00.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.26 by $1.65. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 20.36% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $12.18 earnings per share. Lithia Motors’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 37.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 10th. Lithia Motors’s payout ratio is 5.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LAD. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $365.00 to $385.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Lithia Motors from $300.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $219.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Lithia Motors in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Lithia Motors from $245.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $338.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 8,815 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.47, for a total transaction of $2,719,163.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 248,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,707,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 8,815 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.47, for a total transaction of $2,719,163.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 248,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,707,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 5,000 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.59, for a total transaction of $1,552,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,807,822.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,131 shares of company stock valued at $13,303,956. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lithia Motors Profile

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer. The company operates through Domestic, Import, and Luxury segments. It offers new and used vehicles; vehicle financing services; warranties, insurance contracts, and vehicle and theft protection services; and automotive repair and maintenance services, as well as sells body and parts for the new vehicles under the Driveway and GreenCars brand names.