M&T Bank Corp Acquires New Shares in Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV)

M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,329 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Autoliv by 74.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 314 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Autoliv by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,886 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Autoliv by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 23,592 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Autoliv by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,433 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Autoliv by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,655 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALV. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Autoliv from $103.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Autoliv from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Autoliv from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Autoliv in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Autoliv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.19.

Autoliv Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of ALV opened at $112.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. Autoliv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.49 and a fifty-two week high of $118.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $108.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.31. The firm has a market cap of $8.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.37.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The auto parts company reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.14. Autoliv had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 6.63%. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. Autoliv’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Autoliv, Inc. will post 9.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Autoliv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Autoliv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Autoliv’s payout ratio is currently 39.13%.

Autoliv declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 4th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto parts company to buy up to 31.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Autoliv

In other Autoliv news, Director Jan Carlson sold 1,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.32, for a total value of $168,437.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 77,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,041.76. This represents a 1.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Autoliv Profile

Autoliv, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and supplies passive safety systems to the automotive industry in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, and rest of Asia. It offers passive safety systems, including modules and components for frontal-impact airbag protection systems, side-impact airbag protection systems, seatbelts, steering wheels, and inflator technologies.