Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $163.20.

PAG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Penske Automotive Group from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Penske Automotive Group from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Penske Automotive Group news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 1,604 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.38, for a total transaction of $239,605.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,001 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,529.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Penske Automotive Group news, Director Greg C. Smith sold 1,604 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.38, for a total transaction of $239,605.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,001 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,529.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Barr sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $246,480.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $110,299.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 52.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PAG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Penske Automotive Group by 2.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 120,271 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,272,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Penske Automotive Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,424 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,039,000 after acquiring an additional 2,877 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Penske Automotive Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 307,996 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,730 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Penske Automotive Group by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,367 shares of the company's stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Penske Automotive Group by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 25,355 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,376,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. 77.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Penske Automotive Group Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:PAG traded down $4.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $150.28. The stock had a trading volume of 280,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,273. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $153.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.19. Penske Automotive Group has a fifty-two week low of $133.72 and a fifty-two week high of $180.84.

Penske Automotive Group (NYSE:PAG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.18 billion. Penske Automotive Group had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Penske Automotive Group will post 13.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Penske Automotive Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase from Penske Automotive Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Penske Automotive Group's payout ratio is currently 22.48%.

About Penske Automotive Group

Penske Automotive Group, Inc, a diversified transportation services company, operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Retail Automotive, Retail Commercial Truck, Other, and Non-Automotive Investments. It operates dealerships under franchise agreements with various automotive manufacturers and distributors.