Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases New Holdings in AutoNation, Inc. $AN

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new stake in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 37.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 45.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 81.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AutoNation in the first quarter valued at $86,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 762.6% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. 94.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AutoNation Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of AN stock opened at $220.97 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $216.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.79. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.85. AutoNation, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.33 and a fifty-two week high of $228.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.81.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $5.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. AutoNation had a return on equity of 31.12% and a net margin of 2.31%.The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.99 EPS. Equities analysts predict that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AN. Weiss Ratings lowered AutoNation from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AutoNation from $209.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AutoNation from $205.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen lowered AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on AutoNation from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AutoNation currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.75.

About AutoNation

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.