New York State Teachers Retirement System Grows Holdings in Sonic Automotive, Inc. $SAH

New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,031 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Sonic Automotive were worth $2,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Sonic Automotive by 38.2% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,952 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sonic Automotive by 23.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 4,745 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Sonic Automotive in the first quarter valued at $1,940,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in Sonic Automotive in the first quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Sonic Automotive during the first quarter worth about $777,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on SAH shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sonic Automotive from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Sonic Automotive from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sonic Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Stephens downgraded 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 report on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.71.

Sonic Automotive Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of SAH stock opened at $77.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.00 and a fifty-two week high of $89.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25 and a beta of 0.95.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Sonic Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Sonic Automotive’s payout ratio is presently 33.78%.

Sonic Automotive Profile

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.