UBS Group AG Sells 72,370 Shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

UBS Group AG lessened its holdings in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) by 74.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,438 shares of the company’s stock after selling 72,370 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.05% of AutoNation worth $2,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AutoNation by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,820,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,012,000 after acquiring an additional 123,772 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 29.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,505,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,880,000 after acquiring an additional 338,288 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AutoNation by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,685,000 after acquiring an additional 66,127 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in AutoNation by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 908,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,466,000 after acquiring an additional 36,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in AutoNation by 17.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 843,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,948,000 after purchasing an additional 124,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on AutoNation from $169.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered AutoNation from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $104.00 to $96.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of AutoNation from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AutoNation from $126.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AutoNation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AutoNation currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AutoNation news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 63,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total transaction of $7,410,551.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,003,888 shares in the company, valued at $705,216,684.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 63,090 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction on Monday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total value of $7,410,551.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,003,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,216,684.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.82, for a total transaction of $13,102,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,878,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $616,225,040.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 547,322 shares of company stock worth $67,189,590. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

AutoNation Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE AN opened at $140.55 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.79, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.11. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.92 and a 1-year high of $158.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $124.78 and a 200-day moving average of $117.07.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 17th. The company reported $6.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.89 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.52 billion. AutoNation had a return on equity of 62.12% and a net margin of 5.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that AutoNation, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AutoNation Profile

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AutoNation, Inc engages in the provision of automotive products and services. It operates through the following segments: Domestic, Import, Premium Luxury, and Corporate & Other. The Domestic segment comprises retail automotive franchises that sell new vehicles manufactured by General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.