State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 3,384 Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. $ABG

State of Alaska Department of Revenue decreased its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 46.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,831 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,384 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group in the 2nd quarter worth $593,499,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,156,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,977,000 after purchasing an additional 34,104 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,592,000. Magnolia Group LLC grew its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 3.1% during the first quarter. Magnolia Group LLC now owns 288,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,279,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lakewood Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group during the second quarter valued at about $35,919,000.

Insider Transactions at Asbury Automotive Group

In other Asbury Automotive Group news, SVP Jed Milstein sold 948 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.28, for a total transaction of $237,265.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,902.52. The trade was a 7.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABG shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a report on Thursday. Barclays reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Asbury Automotive Group from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Zacks Research cut Asbury Automotive Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Asbury Automotive Group from $250.00 to $193.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $214.00.

Asbury Automotive Group Price Performance

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock opened at $172.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $190.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $199.50. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a one year low of $160.30 and a one year high of $258.74.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $6.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.31 by $0.51. Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 25.64 EPS for the current year.

Asbury Automotive Group Profile

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc is a U.S.-based automotive retailer that operates franchised and independent dealerships. Its dealerships sell new and used vehicles from a range of domestic, import and luxury automobile brands, and provide related services throughout the vehicle ownership cycle.

The company’s operations include automotive repair and maintenance, parts and accessories, collision repair, vehicle financing and insurance products, and other dealership services. Asbury also supports vehicle sales and service through digital retailing and online customer tools.

Founded in 1995, Asbury has expanded through acquisitions and serves customers across multiple markets in the United States.