First Trust Advisors LP Buys 16,753 Shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. $SAH

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) by 80.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,576 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,753 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Sonic Automotive were worth $2,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SAH. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Sonic Automotive by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,313,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,088,000 after purchasing an additional 48,599 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sonic Automotive by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 701,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,623,000 after buying an additional 62,426 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sonic Automotive by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 510,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,608,000 after buying an additional 54,455 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sonic Automotive by 20.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,151,000 after buying an additional 65,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sonic Automotive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 375,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,204,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.92% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sonic Automotive news, President Jeff Dyke sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.97, for a total value of $4,148,500.00. Following the transaction, the president owned 111,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,261,277.34. This represents a 30.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 100,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,408,160 over the last 90 days. 43.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sonic Automotive Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of SAH stock opened at $82.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.11 and a 12-month high of $113.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $88.99 and its 200 day moving average is $74.73.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Sonic Automotive had a net margin of 1.37% and a return on equity of 20.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Sonic Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is 26.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Research Partners lowered shares of Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, July 17th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Sonic Automotive from $90.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research raised Sonic Automotive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Sonic Automotive from $90.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Sonic Automotive from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.89.

Sonic Automotive Profile

Sonic Automotive, Inc is a publicly traded automotive retailer that operates a network of franchised new-car dealerships and used-vehicle dealerships across the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company offers a range of services that include vehicle sales, leasing, finance and insurance products, service and parts, and collision repair. Sonic Automotive’s dealerships represent numerous major automotive brands, and the company also markets a broad selection of pre-owned vehicles under its own banner.

In addition to its core dealership operations, Sonic Automotive has developed digital retail capabilities that allow customers to research, shop and complete transactions online.