Leisure Capital Management Sells 2,454 Shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Leisure Capital Management lowered its stake in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,954 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,454 shares during the quarter. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $1,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 754,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,300,000 after buying an additional 181,942 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 342,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,491,000 after buying an additional 109,571 shares in the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 262,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,487,000 after buying an additional 5,930 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 167,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,311,000 after buying an additional 96,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of AutoNation by 129.0% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 104,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,815,000 after buying an additional 58,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AN. StockNews.com cut AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI began coverage on AutoNation in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised AutoNation from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $117.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AutoNation from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.00.

AutoNation Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of NYSE AN traded up $9.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $169.88. 1,532,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 461,419. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.77. AutoNation, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.81 and a 52 week high of $182.08. The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $154.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.86.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $4.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.04. AutoNation had a return on equity of 48.76% and a net margin of 3.79%. The company had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.92 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoNation news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $16,126,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,167,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,013,960.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $16,126,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,167,270 shares in the company, valued at $672,013,960.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jacqueline A. Travisano sold 3,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.98, for a total value of $539,563.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $908,630.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 121,279 shares of company stock valued at $19,361,962. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AutoNation Company 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.