South Dakota Investment Council Buys 19,432 Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG)

South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 66.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,858 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,432 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Asbury Automotive Group were worth $10,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABG. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 94.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 161 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 93.8% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 186 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 10.3% during the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Voss Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 5.8% during the third quarter. Voss Capital LLC now owns 179,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,331,000 after purchasing an additional 9,825 shares during the period. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 35.4% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 5,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jed Milstein sold 3,955 shares of Asbury Automotive Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.00, for a total transaction of $826,595.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,300 shares in the company, valued at $1,734,700. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Craig Hallum lowered shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 8th.

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Down 0.3 %

ABG traded down $0.73 on Wednesday, hitting $221.46. The company had a trading volume of 83,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 163,504. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $178.40 and a 52-week high of $256.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.18.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $7.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.74 by ($0.62). Asbury Automotive Group had a return on equity of 21.68% and a net margin of 4.07%. The company had revenue of $3.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 31.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Asbury Automotive Group Company 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.