Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Short Interest Up 12.2% in September

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the August 31st total of 1,810,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 507,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Autohome Price Performance

Shares of Autohome stock traded up $0.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.02. The stock had a trading volume of 1,131,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,100. Autohome has a fifty-two week low of $21.89 and a fifty-two week high of $33.25. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 0.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.52.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The information services provider reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $4.12. Autohome had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 25.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Autohome will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Autohome announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Autohome

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATHM. Norges Bank bought a new position in Autohome during the 4th quarter worth $23,487,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Autohome by 158.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 212,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,971,000 after buying an additional 130,596 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Autohome by 99.4% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in shares of Autohome by 61.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 22,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 8,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Autohome by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,661,948 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $158,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATHM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down from $31.00) on shares of Autohome in a research report on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Benchmark lowered shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Autohome Company Profile

Autohome Inc operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in the People's Republic of China. The company delivers interactive content and tools to automobile consumers through its three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn on PCs, mobile devices, mobile applications, and mini apps.