VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in AutoNation, Inc. $AN

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 7,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,430,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AN. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in AutoNation by 144.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 416,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,950,000 after purchasing an additional 245,994 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in AutoNation during the 1st quarter worth about $36,060,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AutoNation by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,261,000 after purchasing an additional 219,474 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in AutoNation by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,964,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,749,000 after purchasing an additional 149,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in AutoNation by 476.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 84,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,881,000 after purchasing an additional 69,897 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AutoNation in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on AutoNation from $230.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AutoNation from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered AutoNation from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AutoNation has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.63.

AutoNation Stock Performance

NYSE AN opened at $215.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.85. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.33 and a 1-year high of $228.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $218.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.78.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $5.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. AutoNation had a return on equity of 31.12% and a net margin of 2.31%.The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. Equities analysts predict that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.15 EPS for the current 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.