Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 97,537 Shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,812,260 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 97,537 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 2.33% of Autoliv worth $169,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Autoliv by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 276,315 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $25,800,000 after acquiring an additional 76,510 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Autoliv by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 987,375 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $92,221,000 after purchasing an additional 95,888 shares during the period. Lancaster Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Autoliv by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Lancaster Investment Management now owns 568,821 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $53,350,000 after purchasing an additional 85,732 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in Autoliv in the 4th quarter worth about $394,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Autoliv by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,216 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $2,821,000 after buying an additional 8,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Autoliv from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Autoliv to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Autoliv from $112.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Autoliv from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Autoliv in a report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $116.00 price target on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Autoliv has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.93.

Autoliv Stock Up 0.4 %

ALV traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $80.02. 1,069,533 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 800,601. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.47. Autoliv, Inc. has a one year low of $75.49 and a one year high of $129.38. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $91.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.62.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.21. Autoliv had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 28.62%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Autoliv, Inc. will post 9.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Autoliv Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Autoliv's dividend payout ratio is 34.70%.

Insider Activity at Autoliv

In other Autoliv news, CFO Fredrik Westin sold 1,803 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,261 shares in the company, valued at $720,218.59. This represents a 19.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mikael Bratt sold 5,760 shares of Autoliv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.90, for a total value of $569,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 23,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,305,062.30. The trade was a 19.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,253 shares of company stock valued at $915,534. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.