Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) Receives $254.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Key Points

• Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with seven analysts covering the stock, resulting in one sell, four hold, and two buy ratings.
• The average twelve-month price target among brokers is $254.00, reflecting a mixed outlook on the company’s future performance.
• The company reported an EPS of $7.43 for the last quarter, beating estimates but falling short of its revenue expectations with $4.37 billion in revenue.

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $254.00.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ABG shares. Stephens raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Cfra set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Asbury Automotive Group

In other Asbury Automotive Group news, SVP Dean Calloway sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.40, for a total transaction of $101,760.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 5,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,347,048. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maureen F. Morrison sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.61, for a total transaction of $204,488.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,824 shares in the company, valued at $1,488,672.64. This trade represents a 12.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,957 shares of company stock worth $745,501. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Asbury Automotive Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 69.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 132 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 100.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 1,134 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 67,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,988,000 after buying an additional 4,885 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 326.7% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 1,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the company's stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter.

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Performance

Asbury Automotive Group stock traded down $5.90 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $251.59. 6,319 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 198,531. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $243.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $236.94. Asbury Automotive Group has a 12 month low of $201.68 and a 12 month high of $312.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $7.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.61. Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 3.13% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Asbury Automotive Group will post 26.28 earnings per share for the current year.

About Asbury Automotive Group

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts, and collision repair services.