Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) Price Target Raised to $235.00

by · The Markets Daily

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG – Get Free Report) had its target price upped by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $230.00 to $235.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 0.16% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Stephens raised Asbury Automotive Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Asbury Automotive Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Asbury Automotive Group from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Cfra set a $225.00 price objective on Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $250.50.

View Our Latest Research Report on ABG

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Performance

NYSE:ABG traded up $4.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $234.62. 95,033 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 193,535. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $245.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.72. Asbury Automotive Group has a one year low of $201.68 and a one year high of $312.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.87.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $7.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.80 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.84 billion. Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 3.15%.Asbury Automotive Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.35 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Asbury Automotive Group will post 26.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jed Milstein sold 1,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.26, for a total value of $286,690.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 11,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,853,480.42. This represents a 9.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Dean Calloway sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.40, for a total value of $101,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 5,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,347,048. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,957 shares of company stock valued at $745,501. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eminence Capital LP increased its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,002,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,055,000 after purchasing an additional 265,539 shares during the period. Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL increased its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL now owns 724,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,723,000 after purchasing an additional 10,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 472,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,717,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 373,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,444,000 after purchasing an additional 34,160 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Asbury Automotive Group during the 2nd quarter worth $77,544,000.

About Asbury Automotive Group

(Get Free Report)

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts, and collision repair services.

See Also