Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP lowered its position in Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG – Get Rating) by 44.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,479 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,474 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $5,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABG. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 47.5% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 8.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 56.3% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,235,000 after acquiring an additional 4,367 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABG has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Asbury Automotive Group to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th.

Asbury Automotive Group Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of ABG opened at $225.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.42. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $138.88 and a 1-year high of $253.67. The stock has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.14.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $9.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.23 by $0.89. Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 6.46% and a return on equity of 33.22%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 30.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Asbury Automotive Group

In other news, CEO David W. Hult sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.76, for a total transaction of $5,819,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,277,008.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Asbury Automotive Group news, CEO David W. Hult sold 25,000 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.76, for a total value of $5,819,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,277,008.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jed Milstein sold 3,050 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.81, for a total transaction of $713,120.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,856.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,928 shares of company stock valued at $7,441,409 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

About Asbury Automotive Group

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Asbury Automotive Group, Inc operates as a franchised automotive retailer. It operates through the Dealerships and Total Care Auto (TCA) segments. The Dealerships segment offers a range of automotive products and services fulfilling the entire vehicle ownership lifecycle including the sale of new and used vehicles and the provision of vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts, and collision repair services.