Federated Hermes Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,203 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Lithia Motors were worth $787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LAD. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lithia Motors during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lithia Motors during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 69.9% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 124 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Lithia Motors by 1,420.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lithia Motors news, COO Adam Chamberlain sold 403 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.28, for a total value of $154,864.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,001,049.40. The trade was a 13.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Gary M. Glandon sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.86, for a total value of $126,054.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $645,786.90. This trade represents a 16.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,246 shares of company stock valued at $433,724 over the last three months. 0.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Lithia Motors in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Lithia Motors from $420.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $346.00 to $397.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithia Motors currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $365.91.

Lithia Motors Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of LAD opened at $290.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 1.61. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.00 and a twelve month high of $405.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $319.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $341.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $7.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.33 by $0.46. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 2.21%. As a group, analysts expect that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 34.45 EPS for the current year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.14%.

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