Bridgewater Associates LP Cuts Holdings in Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV - Free Report) by 69.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,223 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 58,477 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Autoliv were worth $2,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALV. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Autoliv by 41.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,216 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $2,821,000 after purchasing an additional 8,859 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Autoliv by 10.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 987,375 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $92,221,000 after purchasing an additional 95,888 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Autoliv during the third quarter worth $1,684,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Autoliv by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 276,315 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $25,800,000 after acquiring an additional 76,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Autoliv by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 6,753 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 69.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ALV. Daiwa America upgraded Autoliv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC downgraded Autoliv from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $109.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Autoliv from $84.00 to $82.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Autoliv from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Autoliv from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.00.

Autoliv Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE ALV traded up $2.79 during trading on Thursday, hitting $91.70. The company had a trading volume of 197,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 820,471. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Autoliv, Inc. has a one year low of $75.49 and a one year high of $129.38. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.47. The company's fifty day moving average is $90.28 and its 200-day moving average is $94.20.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The auto parts company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.43. Autoliv had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 28.62%. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Autoliv, Inc. will post 9.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Autoliv Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Autoliv's payout ratio is presently 32.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Fredrik Westin sold 1,803 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.19, for a total transaction of $178,839.57. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at $720,218.59. This trade represents a 19.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Per Jonas Jademyr sold 401 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.85, for a total transaction of $39,638.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,712.25. The trade was a 36.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,253 shares of company stock valued at $915,534 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Autoliv Company 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.