Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $19.95

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.95.

ATHM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.50 price objective on shares of Autohome in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Bank of America lowered Autohome from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Autohome from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Autohome from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd.

Autohome Price Performance

NYSE:ATHM opened at $22.52 on Thursday. Autohome has a one year low of $15.57 and a one year high of $26.28. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.04.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The information services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.07. Autohome had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 4.44%. The firm had revenue of $196.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Autohome will post 1.20 EPS for the current year.

Autohome News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Autohome this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Autohome reported earnings of $0.36 per share, above the $0.29 consensus estimate, and revenue of $196.1 million, ahead of the $189.9 million forecast. MarketBeat earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced an ordinary cash dividend of $0.395 per share, providing a direct return to shareholders. Dividend announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue declined 26% year over year to RMB1.315 billion from RMB1.778 billion. Reports also noted a drop in quarterly income, raising concerns about weakening business performance despite the estimate beat. Quarterly results report

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Bibo Xiang sold 5,588 shares of Autohome stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total value of $29,560.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 56,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,366.20. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Craig Yan Zeng sold 9,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total value of $49,281.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 160,624 shares in the company, valued at $849,700.96. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,304 shares of company stock valued at $260,818. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Autohome

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Autohome by 119.4% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in shares of Autohome in the 1st quarter valued at $184,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Autohome in the 1st quarter valued at $834,000. Oldfield Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Autohome by 20.3% during the second quarter. Oldfield Partners LLP now owns 49,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Autohome by 35.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 72,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,259,000 after buying an additional 18,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

About Autohome

Autohome Inc (NYSE: ATHM) operates an online automotive platform serving consumers, automobile manufacturers, dealers and other industry participants primarily in China. Through its websites and mobile applications, the company provides information and digital tools to help users research vehicles, compare models, read reviews, explore pricing and connect with sellers.

The company’s services include automotive news and editorial content, vehicle specifications, user-generated discussions, professional evaluations, sales-lead generation and online marketing solutions.