Lithia Motors' (LAD) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark's price target suggests a potential upside of 14.14% from the company's current price.

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

Lithia Motors Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE LAD traded down $10.26 on Thursday, reaching $350.44. The company had a trading volume of 301,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 400,004. Lithia Motors has a 52 week low of $243.00 and a 52 week high of $405.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 1.67. The stock's 50 day moving average is $362.13 and its 200-day moving average is $337.85.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $7.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.33 by $0.46. Lithia Motors had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 2.21%. Equities analysts predict that Lithia Motors will post 34.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lithia Motors

In other Lithia Motors news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,445 shares in the company, valued at $69,778,000. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Adam Chamberlain sold 403 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,605 shares in the company, valued at $1,001,049.40. This represents a 13.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,470 shares of company stock valued at $3,370,439. Insiders own 1.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lithia Motors

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 5.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,657 shares of the company's stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 49.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Lithia Motors by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 34,161 shares of the company's stock worth $10,851,000 after acquiring an additional 3,263 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Lithia Motors by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 249 shares of the company's stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Lithia Motors during the 3rd quarter worth $234,000.

Lithia Motors Company 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.