Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD)

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 14.14% from the stock’s previous close.

LAD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Lithia Motors from $360.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lithia Motors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Lithia Motors from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.36.

Lithia Motors Stock Down 2.8 %

NYSE:LAD opened at $350.44 on Thursday. Lithia Motors has a 1-year low of $243.00 and a 1-year high of $405.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $362.13 and a 200 day moving average of $337.85. The firm has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $7.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.33 by $0.46. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 12.43%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lithia Motors will post 34.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lithia Motors news, COO Adam Chamberlain sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.28, for a total value of $154,864.84. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,001,049.40. This represents a 13.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 6,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,696,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,778,000. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,470 shares of company stock worth $3,370,439. Corporate insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lithia Motors

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lithia Motors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 1,420.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter.

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.