Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,350 Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,350 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 94.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 38,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,220,000 after acquiring an additional 18,821 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,310,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 801,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,204,000 after purchasing an additional 3,672 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ABG. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Asbury Automotive Group from $265.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Asbury Automotive Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised Asbury Automotive Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $310.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.20.

Asbury Automotive Group Price Performance

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock opened at $236.93 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.40 and a 200 day moving average of $239.68. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.09 and a 52 week high of $277.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $6.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.58 by ($0.23). Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 16.51% and a net margin of 2.16%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current 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.