Blair William & Co. IL Sells 74 Shares of AutoNation, Inc. $AN

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) by 1.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AN. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in AutoNation by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 235 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in AutoNation by 81.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AutoNation by 45.3% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 375 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in AutoNation in the 1st quarter worth $86,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in AutoNation by 762.6% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. 94.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AN has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $230.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of AutoNation from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AutoNation from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.63.

AutoNation Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of AutoNation stock opened at $213.69 on Friday. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $148.33 and a 1 year high of $228.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $217.49 and a 200 day moving average of $197.28. The firm has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $5.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.76. AutoNation had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.99 EPS. AutoNation’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AutoNation

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.