Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th.

Sonic Automotive has increased its dividend payment by an average of 42.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Sonic Automotive has a payout ratio of 18.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sonic Automotive to earn $6.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.8%.

Sonic Automotive Stock Up 10.0 %

NYSE SAH traded up $5.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $62.35. 817,284 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 226,255. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 1.82. Sonic Automotive has a 1 year low of $39.02 and a 1 year high of $64.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.13. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 28.06% and a net margin of 1.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sonic Automotive will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SAH shares. Bank of America raised shares of Sonic Automotive from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Sonic Automotive from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com lowered Sonic Automotive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, TheStreet raised Sonic Automotive from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.00.

Sonic Automotive Company Profile

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in three segments, Franchised Dealerships, EchoPark, and Powersports. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.