Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH – Get Rating) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Benchmark from $71.00 to $58.00 in a report released on Monday, The Fly reports. Benchmark’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 33.61% from the company’s previous close.
Several other analysts have also issued reports on SAH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Sonic Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sonic Automotive in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sonic Automotive from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.33.
Sonic Automotive Trading Down 5.8 %
Shares of NYSE SAH opened at $43.41 on Monday. Sonic Automotive has a 1-year low of $34.17 and a 1-year high of $62.26. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 67.83 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.32.
Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.51). The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. Sonic Automotive had a net margin of 0.27% and a return on equity of 31.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. As a group, equity analysts expect that Sonic Automotive will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity
In other news, CFO Heath Byrd sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.07, for a total transaction of $189,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 168,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,391.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sonic Automotive news, CFO Heath Byrd sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.07, for a total value of $189,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 168,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,391.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this link. Also, President Jeff Dyke sold 86,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.80, for a total value of $4,399,076.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 814,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,361,309.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,432 shares of company stock worth $5,200,693 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 36.07% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Sonic Automotive
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sonic Automotive by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,312,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,283,000 after buying an additional 33,306 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Sonic Automotive by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,060,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,527,000 after purchasing an additional 108,235 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Sonic Automotive by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 867,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,001,000 after purchasing an additional 17,772 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Sonic Automotive by 8.1% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 713,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,886,000 after purchasing an additional 53,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Sonic Automotive by 411.5% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 633,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,442,000 after purchasing an additional 509,855 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.50% of the company’s stock.
About Sonic Automotive
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Sonic Automotive, Inc. operates as an automotive retailer. Its services include sales of both new and used cars and light trucks, sales of replacement parts and performance of vehicle maintenance, warranty, paint and repair services and arrangement of extended service contracts, financing, insurance, vehicle protection products and other aftermarket products for automotive customers.
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