Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Short Interest Update

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,810,000 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the August 15th total of 1,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 528,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autohome

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Autohome during the 4th quarter valued at about $23,487,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Autohome by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 212,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,971,000 after purchasing an additional 130,596 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 657 shares during the period. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in shares of Autohome by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 22,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,000 after acquiring an additional 8,428 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Autohome by 61.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ATHM shares. Benchmark cut shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Autohome in a research report on Friday, July 19th.

Autohome Price Performance

NYSE ATHM traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.39. 317,924 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 468,162. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.14. Autohome has a one year low of $21.89 and a one year high of $30.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.31.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The information services provider reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $4.12. Autohome had a net margin of 25.81% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Autohome will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Autohome announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, September 4th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.