Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Sonic Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Sonic Automotive from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Sonic Automotive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Sonic Automotive from $72.00 to $57.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.62.

Sonic Automotive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SAH opened at $61.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.97. Sonic Automotive has a 52 week low of $54.11 and a 52 week high of $113.67.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 1.33%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sonic Automotive will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Paul P. Rusnak acquired 12,555 shares of Sonic Automotive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.90 per share, for a total transaction of $752,044.50. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 5,176,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,088,882.40. This represents a 0.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders bought 76,776 shares of company stock worth $4,584,694. 43.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sonic Automotive

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAH. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sonic Automotive by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive during the third quarter worth $300,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive during the third quarter worth $153,000. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Sonic Automotive by 30.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Sonic Automotive by 15.5% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 46.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sonic Automotive

Sonic Automotive, Inc is a U.S.-based 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 related automotive products and services.

Its dealership operations provide vehicle financing and insurance products, maintenance and repair services, replacement parts, and collision-repair services. Sonic Automotive also operates EchoPark Automotive, a used-vehicle business focused on offering pre-owned vehicles and related finance and service products through dedicated retail locations.

Founded in 1997 by automotive entrepreneur O.