Cerity Partners LLC Takes $281,000 Position in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AutoNation by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 754,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,300,000 after acquiring an additional 181,942 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AutoNation by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 262,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,487,000 after acquiring an additional 5,930 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of AutoNation by 137.5% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 167,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,311,000 after acquiring an additional 96,797 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of AutoNation by 129.0% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 104,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,815,000 after buying an additional 58,850 shares during the period. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of AutoNation by 7.3% during the third quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 90,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,712,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AutoNation from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of AutoNation from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of AutoNation in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.00.

AutoNation Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of NYSE AN opened at $169.88 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $154.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.88. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.81 and a 1 year high of $182.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $4.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.49 billion. AutoNation had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 48.76%. The business’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AutoNation

In related news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $16,126,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,167,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,013,960.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $16,126,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,167,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,013,960.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 10,804 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,267,860 shares in the company, valued at $659,640,441.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 121,279 shares of company stock valued at $19,361,962 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoNation Company 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.