Sonic Automotive, Inc. $SAH Shares Sold by State Street Corp

Key Points

• State Street reduced its Sonic Automotive stake by 6.1% in the second quarter, selling 41,490 shares and retaining 634,362 shares valued at approximately $54.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 46.92% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with four Buy, four Hold and two Sell ratings. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $98.88.
• Sonic Automotive exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.82 in EPS on $3.93 billion in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, representing a 2.6% annualized yield.

State Street Corp lowered its stake in Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH - Free Report) by 6.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 634,362 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,490 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 2.01% of Sonic Automotive worth $54,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SAH. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Sonic Automotive by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,313,857 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,088,000 after purchasing an additional 48,599 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 181,189 shares of the company's stock worth $11,208,000 after purchasing an additional 75,125 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sonic Automotive by 64.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 131,302 shares of the company's stock worth $9,003,000 after purchasing an additional 51,420 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,450,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 11.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 88,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,043,000 after buying an additional 9,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAH has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Sonic Automotive from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Sonic Automotive from $90.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Sonic Automotive from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Sonic Automotive from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Sonic Automotive from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sonic Automotive has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.88.

Sonic Automotive Stock Down 0.1%

Sonic Automotive stock opened at $62.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.94, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 1.01. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.11 and a 52-week high of $113.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $82.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.12.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 1.37%.The firm had revenue of $3.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.19 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Sonic Automotive's payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

About Sonic Automotive

Sonic Automotive, Inc is an automotive retailer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company operates franchised dealerships that sell new and pre-owned vehicles from a range of automobile manufacturers, along with replacement parts, vehicle maintenance and repair services, financing, insurance products and other related offerings.

Sonic also operates EchoPark Automotive, a retail platform focused primarily on high-quality pre-owned vehicles. Through its dealership and EchoPark operations, the company provides vehicle purchasing, trade-in, financing and service options to consumers.

Founded in 1997, Sonic Automotive serves customers through locations across the United States.

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