AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) Major Shareholder Edward S. Lampert Sells 31,477 Shares of Stock

AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 31,477 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.47, for a total transaction of $4,201,235.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,199,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $693,930,016.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

AutoNation Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE AN opened at $135.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $132.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $123.70. The company has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.08. AutoNation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.92 and a 12 month high of $158.30.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $6.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.60 by $0.47. AutoNation had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 61.01%. The company had revenue of $6.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AutoNation, Inc. will post 21.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AutoNation

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TFO TDC LLC purchased a new position in AutoNation during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC acquired a new position in AutoNation during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in AutoNation by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AutoNation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of AutoNation by 106.3% during the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AutoNation from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AutoNation in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of AutoNation from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of AutoNation from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $104.00 to $96.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AutoNation currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.14.

AutoNation Company Profile

(Get Rating)

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.