Focus Partners Wealth Buys Shares of 2,961 AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,566,000 after purchasing an additional 6,277 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AutoNation in the 4th quarter worth $255,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of AutoNation by 97.4% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 11,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 5,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AutoNation in the 4th quarter worth $38,136,000. 94.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AN shares. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on AutoNation from $212.00 to $183.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upgraded AutoNation to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Cfra Research upgraded AutoNation to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on AutoNation from $194.00 to $176.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AutoNation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.75.

AutoNation Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AutoNation stock opened at $187.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $171.06 and a 200 day moving average of $174.97. AutoNation, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.33 and a fifty-two week high of $198.50.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.33. AutoNation had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AutoNation 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.