AutoNation Inc. (NYSE:AN) saw an upside of 2.36% to close Friday at $157.98 after adding $3.64 on the day. The 5-day average trading volume is 500,140 shares of the company’s common stock. It has gained $160.99 in the past week and touched a new high 1 time within the past 5 days. An average of 656,445 shares of the company has been traded in the last 20 days, and the 50-day average volume stands at 690,076.
AN’s 1-month performance is -10.71% or -$21.69 on its low of $149.39 reached on 07/24/23. The company’s shares have touched a 52-week low of $94.92 and high of $182.08, with the stock’s rally to the 52-week high happening on 07/19/23. YTD, AN has achieved 47.23% or $50.68 and has reached a new high 29 times. However, the current price is down -13.24% from the 52-week high price.
Insider Transactions
AN stock investors last saw insider trading activity on Aug 11.EDMUNDS C COLEMAN (EVP, Gen Counsel & Corp Sec) most recently sold 4,500 shares at $160.35 per share on Aug 11. This transaction cost the insider $721,569. EVP & CFO, Lower Joseph T, sold 10,000 shares at a price of $157.96 on Jul 31. Then, on Jul 25, EVP & CFO Lower Joseph T sold 10,000 shares at a price of $150.61 per share. This transaction amounted to $1,506,059.
Valuation Metrics
AN stock has a beta of 1.16. Moving on to other valuation ratios, the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 0.26 while the price-to-book (PB) in the most recent quarter is 3.40, with the price to cash flow ratio at 7.45.
AutoNation Inc.’s quick ratio for the period ended June 29 was 0.20, with the current ratio over the same period at 0.80. As well, the company’s long term debt to equity for the quarter ending June 29 was 1.83, while the total debt to equity was 2.07. In terms of profitability, the gross margin trailing 12 months is 19.60%. The trailing 12-month EBITDA margin is 8.13% while for the period ending June 29, AutoNation Inc.’s operating margin was 6.90%. The firm’s gross profit as reported stood at $5.27 billion against revenue of $26.98 billion.
Earnings Surprise
For the quarterly period ending June 29 this year, Net income and sales went up compared to those figures reported in the previous quarter. Net income shrunk -38.09% to $272.5 million, while revenue of $288.7 million was -5.94% off the previous quarter. Analysts expected AN to announce $5.91 per share in earnings in its latest quarter, but it posted $6.29, representing a 6.40% surprise. EBITDA for the quarter stood at more than $494.7 million. AN stock balance sheet for the quarter ending June 29 shows that total liabilities totaled 8.99 billion, with total debt at $7.24 billion. Shareholders hold equity totaling $44.05 million.
Let’s look briefly at AutoNation Inc. (AN) price momentum from a technical analysis perspective. The 9-day relative strength index as at close on 18 August was 50.04% to suggest the stock is trending Neutral, with historical volatility in this time period at 28.35%.
The stock’s 5-day moving average is $156.84, reflecting a -1.28% or -$2.05 change from its current price. AN is currently trading +1.85% above its 20-day SMA, +23.98% above its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is away from the SMA50 by +9.25% and SMA200 by+48.60%.
Stochastic %K and %D was 35.24% and 39.58% and the average true range (ATR) pointed at 4.19. The RSI (14) points at 49.01%, while the 14-day stochastic is at 59.88% with the period’s ATR at 4.33. The stock’s 9-day MACD Oscillator is pointing at -0.88 and -1.42 on the 14-day charts.
Analyst Ratings
In the most recent analyst report for AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN), JP Morgan downgraded it to an Underweight rating. They previously had a Neutral rating on the stock. Analysts offering their rating for AN stock have a consensus rating for the stock as Overweight. Currently, 2 brokerage advisors rate AN as a “sell,”, while 5 advise that investors “Hold.” 0 analysts have rated the stock as underweight. 0 rates the stock as overweight while 6 have offered a “buy” rating.
What is AN’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts have a consensus price target ranging from a low of $117.00 and a high of $245.00, with their median price target at $172.00. Looking at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts is for AutoNation Inc. (AN) stock is $173.78.
