Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Equal Weight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $240.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $190.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on ABG. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an equal weight rating and a $216.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Asbury Automotive Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Asbury Automotive Group from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $237.75.

Asbury Automotive Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ABG stock opened at $231.82 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.30 and a 200 day moving average of $229.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Asbury Automotive Group has a 1-year low of $178.40 and a 1-year high of $277.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.16.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $6.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.31 by ($0.91). Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Asbury Automotive Group will post 26.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Asbury Automotive Group news, CEO David W. Hult sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.18, for a total transaction of $113,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,911,548.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Hult sold 500 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.18, for a total transaction of $113,590.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,911,548.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Impactive Capital Lp sold 8,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.63, for a total value of $1,884,687.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,008,649 shares in the company, valued at $453,211,473.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABG. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,746,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 115,000.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Asbury Automotive Group during the fourth quarter valued at $272,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group in the fourth quarter worth $2,751,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 199,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,846,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter.

Asbury Automotive Group Company Profile

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts, and collision repair services.