Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.10 Million Investment in AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AN. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoNation during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AutoNation during the third quarter worth about $67,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of AutoNation by 18.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 708 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of AutoNation by 17.9% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 789 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoNation during the third quarter worth about $128,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AutoNation from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of AutoNation in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AutoNation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AutoNation from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.00.

AutoNation Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of AN opened at $158.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.27. AutoNation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.81 and a 1-year high of $182.08. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.24.

AutoNation (NYSE:AN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $5.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.85 by $0.17. AutoNation had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 48.76%. The business had revenue of $6.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AutoNation, Inc. will post 18.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AutoNation

In other news, CAO Kimberly Dees sold 3,133 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $477,093.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,657.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AutoNation news, CAO Kimberly Dees sold 3,133 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total value of $477,093.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,657.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Edward S. Lampert sold 100,000 shares of AutoNation stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $16,126,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,167,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,013,960.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,279 shares of company stock valued at $19,361,962 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoNation Company Profile

AutoNation, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and parts and services, such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services.