Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

SAH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sonic Automotive from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Sonic Automotive in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Sonic Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stephens lowered shares of Sonic Automotive from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Sonic Automotive from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sonic Automotive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.71.

Sonic Automotive Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of SAH opened at $74.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.95. Sonic Automotive has a 12-month low of $52.00 and a 12-month high of $89.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.84.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.66 billion. Sonic Automotive had a net margin of 1.07% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Sonic Automotive will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sonic Automotive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 26.2% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 641,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,525,000 after buying an additional 133,044 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 124.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,239,000 after buying an additional 197,336 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 0.3% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 291,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,629,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive during the first quarter valued at about $7,317,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 79.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 126,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,130,000 after buying an additional 56,027 shares during the last quarter. 46.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sonic Automotive

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.