Legal & General Group Plc Buys 3,937 Shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. $ABG

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,463 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,937 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.33% of Asbury Automotive Group worth $15,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABG. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 49.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 278,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,561,000 after acquiring an additional 91,767 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group in the first quarter worth about $17,922,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 1,056.7% during the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 86,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,159,000 after purchasing an additional 79,256 shares during the last quarter. Voss Capital LP raised its holdings in Asbury Automotive Group by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 169,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,346,000 after purchasing an additional 51,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Asbury Automotive Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $8,354,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Asbury Automotive Group from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Asbury Automotive Group from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.00.

Asbury Automotive Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE ABG opened at $232.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $236.07 and its 200-day moving average is $238.82. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.87. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $201.68 and a twelve month high of $312.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $7.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.80 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.84 billion. Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.35 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 26.28 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.