Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $1.57 Million Stake in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lowered its position in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,630 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,680 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $1,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AN. TFO TDC LLC bought a new stake in shares of AutoNation in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 101.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AutoNation in the 3rd quarter valued at $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of AutoNation in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of AutoNation from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AutoNation presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.14.

Insider Transactions at AutoNation

In related news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 31,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.47, for a total value of $4,201,235.19. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,199,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $693,930,016.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 31,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.47, for a total value of $4,201,235.19. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,199,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $693,930,016.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP C Coleman Edmunds sold 9,445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total transaction of $1,323,338.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,594 shares in the company, valued at $1,904,655.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 198,754 shares of company stock worth $26,925,568 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AutoNation Stock Performance

NYSE AN opened at $133.17 on Friday. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.92 and a 1 year high of $158.30. 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 has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.42, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $131.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.06.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $6.07 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $6.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AutoNation, Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AutoNation

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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.