Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in AutoNation, Inc. $AN

Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp reduced its stake in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) by 93.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,294 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,706 shares during the quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp’s holdings in AutoNation were worth $257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AN. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in AutoNation by 23.7% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 28,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,624,000 after buying an additional 5,462 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of AutoNation by 88.1% in the 1st quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 2,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AutoNation by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,261,000 after purchasing an additional 219,474 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in AutoNation by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 41,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,772,000 after purchasing an additional 7,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in AutoNation by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 676,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,112 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AutoNation from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on AutoNation from $255.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AutoNation in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AutoNation from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on AutoNation from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.00.

AutoNation Stock Performance

AN opened at $221.88 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $207.34 and its 200 day moving average is $206.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.89. AutoNation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.33 and a 12-month high of $228.92.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $5.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.85 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. AutoNation had a net margin of 2.38% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.15 EPS for the current year.

AutoNation declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, October 31st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About AutoNation

AutoNation, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and parts and services, such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services.