JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Stock Position in Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. $ABG

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 30.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 92,547 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,596 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $22,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 20.5% during the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 51.7% during the second quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 6,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after buying an additional 2,190 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 30.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 1,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in Asbury Automotive Group by 7.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 5,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on ABG shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $275.00 to $251.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Asbury Automotive Group from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research note on Monday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Asbury Automotive Group from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $250.57.

Asbury Automotive Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of ABG stock opened at $234.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.88. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.68 and a 1 year high of $312.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $7.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.80 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.84 billion. Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 3.15%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.35 EPS. Research analysts predict that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 26.28 earnings per share for the current year.

About Asbury Automotive Group

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.