Sonic Automotive, Inc. $SAH Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its stake in shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 621 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.13% of Sonic Automotive worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,952 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 266.1% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 10,246 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 6,802.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 11,564 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 4,745 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,940,000. 46.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SAH. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $80.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Stephens downgraded Sonic Automotive from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Sonic Automotive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.86.

Sonic Automotive Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of SAH opened at $79.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.98. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.00 and a fifty-two week high of $89.62.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.66 billion. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 21.40% and a net margin of 1.07%.Sonic Automotive’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Sonic Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Sonic Automotive’s payout ratio is presently 33.78%.

Sonic Automotive Company Profile

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in three segments, Franchised Dealerships, EchoPark, and Powersports. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.