Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 4,819 Shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,426 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,819 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $2,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 123,772 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in AutoNation by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,505,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,880,000 after buying an additional 338,288 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in AutoNation by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,186,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,415,000 after buying an additional 70,224 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AutoNation by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,154,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,586,000 after buying an additional 32,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in AutoNation by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 908,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,466,000 after buying an additional 36,620 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoNation news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 10,804 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.56, for a total transaction of $1,669,866.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,267,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,640,441.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 10,804 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.56, for a total transaction of $1,669,866.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,267,860 shares in the company, valued at $659,640,441.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 380,497 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.12, for a total value of $54,456,730.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,278,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $612,362,391.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 501,776 shares of company stock valued at $73,818,692 over the last three months. 0.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AutoNation from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of AutoNation in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AutoNation from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AutoNation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.25.

AutoNation Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE AN opened at $154.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $152.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.24. AutoNation, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.81 and a 52 week high of $182.08.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $5.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.85 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. AutoNation had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 48.76%. AutoNation’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AutoNation Profile

AutoNation, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and parts and services, such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services.