1,598 Shares in Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) Purchased by Cynosure Group LLC

Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $381,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,056,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,818,000 after buying an additional 69,975 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 41.5% during the second quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 498,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,603,000 after acquiring an additional 146,246 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 4.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 197,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,065,000 after acquiring an additional 7,754 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 366.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 189,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,233,000 after buying an additional 148,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group in the third quarter valued at $26,573,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $310.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Craig Hallum raised their price objective on Asbury Automotive Group from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $190.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $265.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Asbury Automotive Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.20.

Asbury Automotive Group Price Performance

Asbury Automotive Group stock opened at $260.03 on Friday. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a one year low of $195.09 and a one year high of $277.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $239.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 1.16.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $6.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.58 by ($0.23). Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 2.16% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 25.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Asbury Automotive Group 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.