On April 22, 2023, AutoNation (NYSE:AN) had its target price elevated by Wells Fargo & Company, a renowned stock analyst, from $135.00 to $144.00 as per The Fly’s report. This development signifies a potential upside of 10.13% from the organization’s current price that has caught the attention of many investors.
AutoNation last issued its quarterly earnings on Thursday, April 20th, reporting an impressive $6.07 earnings per share for the quarter, which exceeded the consensus estimate of $5.60 by $0.47. Additionally, it had a return on equity of 62.12% and a net margin of 5.10%. Despite experiencing a decrease in revenue, with $6.40 billion during the quarter compared to the consensus estimate of $6.63 billion and a drop in revenue from their previous year’s performance; being down 5.2%, AutoNation remained optimistic about their future prospects.
As an automotive provider company operating under four primary segments – Domestic, Import, Premium Luxury and Corporate & Other- AutoNation has been able to retail automotive franchises selling new vehicles manufactured by General Motors (GM), Ford and Stellantis through its Domestic segment.
AutoNation has positioned itself as one notable player among other organizations eager to leverage market chances offered by new technologies such as blockchain and isotope technology.
In conclusion, while it may be challenging for investors to predict future market activities, activities in recent times suggest that there may be significant opportunities for organizations like AutoNation that can pivot effectively towards profitable pursuits; there may be attractive possibilities on the horizon waiting to be discovered with expert analysis and strategic understanding from investment analysts such as Wells Fargo & Company helping guide investors’ decisions moving forward.
AutoNation Inc: A Look at Its Ratings, Insider Trading, and Institutional Investing
AutoNation, Inc is a Florida-based company that offers automotive products and services through its retail automotive franchises. The company operates in four segments: Domestic, Import, Premium Luxury, and Corporate & Other. In the past few months, many equities research analysts have issued research reports about the stock. On Monday, Guggenheim raised their price target on AutoNation shares from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report. Another giant JPMorgan Chase downgraded AutoNation from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating but increased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $130.00 in February.
StockNews.com started covering AutoNation in March and issued a “buy” rating for the company. However, Morgan Stanley cut shares of AutoNation from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in January 2023 and decreased their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $96.00.
According to data from Bloomberg as of April 22, 2023, two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating while one has assigned a hold rating, and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Currently, AutoNation has a consensus rating of “Hold,” and its average target price is approximately $151.50.
On Friday morning April 21st of this year (2023), NYSE:AN opened at $130.75 on Friday with a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, PE ration of 5.38 beta ratio of 1.09 P/E/G ratio is at 1.86 making it an affordable investment option today for potential future gains given that it has touched both high and low values during its previous years of trading history.
AutoNation also recently had insider trading going on within its ranks as major shareholder, Edward S. Lampert sold 17,637 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th at an average price of $135.01 per share. After the completion of this sale, the insider now directly owns 5,267,779 shares in the company valued at roughly $711,202,842.79.
Additionally, EVP Marc G. Cannon sold 5,800 shares of AN in March at an average price of $144.52 per share making almost $1 million from his sale) Now that such large insider trading activities took place recently with significant shareholders trading their holdings away from AutoNation Inc., is it telling something about the future health and outlook for this enterprise?
Several large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AutoNation throughout its history as a publicly-traded company around too: TFO TDC LLC purchased a new stake in AN shares in late 2022 Q4 quarter year-end also during early 2023; GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC acquired almost $27K worth while Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position by nearly double but still only has around 231 holdings (worth about $25k total value).
Finally seeing some upward action in terms of institutional investing are Compass Wealth Management LLC which has invested not more than $32k so far this year despite asset managers across the board increasing positions in terms of dollar values/assets under management managed after positive earnings data were released concerning automotive sales figures over several weeks concluding last month (March).
