Insider Selling: Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) CTO Sells 10,508 Shares of Stock

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) CTO Bibo Xiang sold 10,508 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.35, for a total transaction of $45,709.80. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 62,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,300.80. The trade was a 14.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Autohome Price Performance

Autohome stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.38. 616,954 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 595,714. Autohome Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.57 and a fifty-two week high of $29.92. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.59.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Sunday, February 15th. The information services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Autohome had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 5.01%. The business had revenue of $208.96 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Autohome Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Autohome Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Autohome’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ATHM. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Autohome from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.30 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Autohome from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Autohome in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Autohome presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $22.65.

Institutional Trading of Autohome

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATHM. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Autohome by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,852,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $63,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326,281 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Autohome by 12.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,968,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,497,000 after acquiring an additional 868,151 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Autohome by 25.0% in the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 3,387,052 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $93,178,000 after acquiring an additional 678,214 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Autohome in the fourth quarter worth $14,167,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Autohome in the fourth quarter worth $10,937,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

Autohome Company Profile

Autohome Inc (NYSE: ATHM) operates one of China’s leading online destinations for automobile consumers, offering a comprehensive suite of digital platforms and services throughout the vehicle ownership lifecycle. Headquartered in Beijing, the company’s core website and mobile applications deliver news, reviews, pricing information, photos, videos and interactive tools to help prospective buyers evaluate new and used vehicles. By aggregating rich editorial content with user-generated ratings and expert analyses, Autohome seeks to guide consumers through research, purchase and after-sales decision-making.

In addition to its consumer-facing properties, Autohome provides automakers, dealers and service providers with integrated digital marketing and e-commerce solutions.