AutoNation (NYSE:AN) Price Target Raised to $238.00

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $233.00 to $238.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

AN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore boosted their target price on AutoNation from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Stephens lifted their price objective on AutoNation from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AutoNation from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AutoNation from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AutoNation from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AutoNation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.67.

AutoNation Price Performance

Shares of AN stock opened at $195.30 on Monday. AutoNation has a 1 year low of $148.33 and a 1 year high of $228.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $207.86 and its 200-day moving average is $210.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.89.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The company reported $5.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.91 by $0.17. AutoNation had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 31.69%. The business had revenue of $6.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.97 earnings per share. AutoNation’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AutoNation will post 18.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AutoNation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in AutoNation by 192,434.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 4,424,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,557,000 after buying an additional 4,422,133 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AutoNation in the 4th quarter worth about $69,319,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of AutoNation by 260.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 333,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,064,000 after purchasing an additional 241,265 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in AutoNation by 219.6% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 316,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,957,000 after purchasing an additional 217,774 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AutoNation by 51.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 631,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,439,000 after purchasing an additional 215,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

AutoNation Company Profile

AutoNation, Inc is the largest automotive retailer in the United States, operating a network of franchised new vehicle dealerships, pre-owned vehicle superstores and collision-repair centers. The company offers a comprehensive range of automotive products and services, including the sale of new cars and light trucks from leading manufacturers, certified pre-owned vehicles and a wide selection of used models. In addition to retail vehicle sales, AutoNation provides financing, insurance and extended service contracts through its in-house financial services division, as well as genuine and aftermarket parts, factory-recommended maintenance and collision-repair services.

Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, AutoNation was founded in 1996 by entrepreneur H.