Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $263.50.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $290.00 to $250.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $236.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th.

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABG traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $248.22. The company had a trading volume of 108,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 197,068. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $238.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.17. Asbury Automotive Group has a 1 year low of $201.68 and a 1 year high of $312.56. The stock has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.96.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $6.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.84 by ($0.02). Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 2.42% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.21 earnings per share. Asbury Automotive Group's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group will post 26.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Asbury Automotive Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,108,176 shares of the company's stock worth $269,322,000 after acquiring an additional 9,688 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 787,775 shares of the company's stock worth $191,453,000 after acquiring an additional 107,317 shares during the last quarter. Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL boosted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 0.7% during the first quarter. Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL now owns 713,158 shares of the company's stock worth $157,494,000 after acquiring an additional 5,284 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 10.1% during the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 373,320 shares of the company's stock worth $82,444,000 after acquiring an additional 34,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Asbury Automotive Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,079,000.

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.