River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 12,669 Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 19.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,961 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,669 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Asbury Automotive Group worth $12,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 3,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 24,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,819,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 3,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABG. Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Asbury Automotive Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $216.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $310.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Hult sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.18, for a total transaction of $113,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,911,548.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Hult sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.18, for a total value of $113,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,911,548.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Impactive Capital Lp sold 8,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.63, for a total transaction of $1,884,687.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,008,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,211,473.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Asbury Automotive Group Stock Up 2.1 %

Asbury Automotive Group stock opened at $242.06 on Wednesday. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.09 and a twelve month high of $277.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $229.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $232.09. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 25.59 EPS for the current 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.