Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH – Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.04), MarketWatch Earnings reports. The business had revenue of $3.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 37.99% and a net margin of 2.81%. The company’s revenue was up 28.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS.

Shares of SAH stock opened at $42.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 2.20. Sonic Automotive has a 52 week low of $38.64 and a 52 week high of $58.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.48.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 14th. Sonic Automotive’s payout ratio is currently 12.38%.

SAH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Sonic Automotive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Sonic Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $70.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Sonic Automotive from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sonic Automotive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.67.

In other news, President Jeff Dyke sold 2,769 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $143,988.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Paul P. Rusnak bought 127,475 shares of Sonic Automotive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $41.89 per share, for a total transaction of $5,339,927.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 5,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $209,450,000. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 36.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAH. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sonic Automotive by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,191,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,289,000 after buying an additional 141,294 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sonic Automotive by 115.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 174,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,645,000 after purchasing an additional 93,816 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Sonic Automotive by 63.5% during the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 237,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,633,000 after purchasing an additional 92,316 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Sonic Automotive by 111.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 80,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after purchasing an additional 42,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Sonic Automotive by 76.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 85,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,233,000 after purchasing an additional 37,023 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.65% of the company’s stock.

About Sonic Automotive (Get Rating)

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in two segments, Franchised Dealerships and EchoPark. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.

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