Guggenheim Increases AutoNation (NYSE:AN) Price Target to $169.00

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) had its target price upped by Guggenheim from $165.00 to $169.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AN. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoNation from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI began coverage on AutoNation in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. They set an outperform rating and a $185.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AutoNation from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AutoNation currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $173.00.

AutoNation Price Performance

Shares of AutoNation stock opened at $154.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. AutoNation has a 1-year low of $123.81 and a 1-year high of $182.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.24.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $5.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.85 by $0.17. AutoNation had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 48.76%. The firm had revenue of $6.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AutoNation will post 18.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoNation

In other news, CAO Kimberly Dees sold 3,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $477,093.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,657.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Kimberly Dees sold 3,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $477,093.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,657.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $16,126,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,167,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,013,960.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 501,776 shares of company stock valued at $73,818,692 in the last ninety days. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AutoNation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 3,729.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 505,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after buying an additional 492,074 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in AutoNation by 29.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,505,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,880,000 after purchasing an additional 338,288 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AutoNation during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,748,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in AutoNation by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 754,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,300,000 after purchasing an additional 181,942 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in AutoNation by 211.1% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 202,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,731,000 after purchasing an additional 137,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

AutoNation Company Profile

AutoNation, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and parts and services, such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services.