Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) Increases Dividend to $0.70 Per Share

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share on Friday, August 21st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This is a 22.8% increase from Lithia Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57.

Lithia Motors has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Lithia Motors has a payout ratio of 6.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lithia Motors to earn $40.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.7%.

Lithia Motors Stock Up 18.7%

Shares of LAD opened at $425.35 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $308.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.90. Lithia Motors has a 1 year low of $239.78 and a 1 year high of $439.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.26.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $10.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.73 by $1.30. The firm had revenue of $9.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.64 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lithia Motors will post 34.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LAD shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Lithia Motors from $326.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lithia Motors from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Lithia Motors in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Lithia Motors from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.11.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc is an American automotive retailer headquartered in Medford, Oregon. Founded in 1946 as a small auto body and glass shop, the company has grown through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest automotive retail networks in North America. Lithia operates dealerships across the United States and Canada, offering a broad portfolio of new and pre-owned vehicles from more than 40 different manufacturers.

The company’s core business activities include vehicle sales, financing, insurance, parts and service.