Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) Shares Sold by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,685 shares of the company’s stock after selling 381 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $10,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABG. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 56.3% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after buying an additional 4,480 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,235,000 after buying an additional 4,367 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Craig Hallum cut Asbury Automotive Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 8th.

Insider Transactions at Asbury Automotive Group

In other Asbury Automotive Group news, SVP Jed Milstein sold 3,955 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.00, for a total transaction of $826,595.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,734,700. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Asbury Automotive Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABG opened at $211.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.06. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $178.40 and a fifty-two week high of $256.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.08.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $7.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.74 by ($0.62). Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 21.68% and a net margin of 4.07%. The business had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.12 EPS. Asbury Automotive Group’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 31.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Asbury Automotive Group Profile

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts, and collision repair services.