Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) Upgraded at Craig Hallum

Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Craig Hallum currently has $250.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on ABG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Asbury Automotive Group from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Asbury Automotive Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Asbury Automotive Group from $230.00 to $184.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Asbury Automotive Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Asbury Automotive Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.88.

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Performance

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock opened at $199.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.91. Asbury Automotive Group has a 1 year low of $160.30 and a 1 year high of $258.74.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.42 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.51 billion. Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 2.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.17 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group will post 25.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Asbury Automotive Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $593,499,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 3.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,156,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,977,000 after acquiring an additional 34,104 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $65,167,000. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group during the second quarter worth approximately $60,592,000. Finally, Magnolia Group LLC raised its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 3.1% during the first quarter. Magnolia Group LLC now owns 288,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,279,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares in the last quarter.

Asbury Automotive Group Company Profile

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc is a U.S.-based automotive retailer that operates franchised and independent dealerships. Its dealerships sell new and used vehicles from a range of domestic, import and luxury automobile brands, and provide related services throughout the vehicle ownership cycle.

The company’s operations include automotive repair and maintenance, parts and accessories, collision repair, vehicle financing and insurance products, and other dealership services. Asbury also supports vehicle sales and service through digital retailing and online customer tools.

Founded in 1995, Asbury has expanded through acquisitions and serves customers across multiple markets in the United States.