Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 480 Shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) by 33.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,899 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in AutoNation by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,605,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,910,000 after purchasing an additional 41,712 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in AutoNation in the 1st quarter worth about $170,270,000. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in AutoNation by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 781,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,607,000 after purchasing an additional 4,350 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in AutoNation in the 2nd quarter worth about $15,832,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in AutoNation by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 97,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,208,000 after acquiring an additional 2,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of AutoNation from $187.00 to $181.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of AutoNation in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AutoNation from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AutoNation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 53,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.45, for a total transaction of $10,361,568.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,825,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,108,361.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 39,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.43, for a total transaction of $7,189,355.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,786,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,492,393.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 53,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.45, for a total value of $10,361,568.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,825,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,108,361.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,256 shares of company stock worth $17,641,954. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AutoNation Trading Up 0.1 %

AN stock opened at $162.00 on Thursday. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.81 and a 1-year high of $197.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.76.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $3.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.31 by ($0.32). AutoNation had a return on equity of 36.50% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AutoNation, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS 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.