R Squared Ltd Purchases New Position in Sonic Automotive, Inc. $SAH

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Sonic Automotive by 9.9% during the second quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 27,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Sonic Automotive during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,202,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Sonic Automotive by 6.4% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Sonic Automotive during the second quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Sonic Automotive during the second quarter valued at approximately $360,000. 46.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded Sonic Automotive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sonic Automotive in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.00.

Sonic Automotive Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE SAH opened at $64.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.26. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.00 and a fifty-two week high of $89.62. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 0.95.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.41). Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 21.69% and a net margin of 0.86%.The business had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Sonic Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.78%.

About Sonic Automotive

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in three segments, Franchised Dealerships, EchoPark, and Powersports. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.