Sonic Automotive, Inc. (SAH) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 14th

Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th.

Sonic Automotive has increased its dividend by an average of 42.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Sonic Automotive has a payout ratio of 18.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Sonic Automotive to earn $6.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.8%.

Sonic Automotive Stock Up 10.0 %

Sonic Automotive stock opened at $62.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 1.82. Sonic Automotive has a 12 month low of $39.02 and a 12 month high of $64.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 27.69% and a net margin of 1.21%. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Sonic Automotive will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SAH. Bank of America upgraded Sonic Automotive from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Sonic Automotive from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sonic Automotive from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sonic Automotive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Sonic Automotive Company Profile

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in three segments, Franchised Dealerships, EchoPark, and Powersports. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.