Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $238.68, but opened at $222.18. Asbury Automotive Group shares last traded at $238.5350, with a volume of 29,993 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price objective on Asbury Automotive Group in a report on Monday. Stephens upgraded Asbury Automotive Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Asbury Automotive Group in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Asbury Automotive Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $250.57.

Asbury Automotive Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.30, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $235.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.02. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $7.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.80 by $0.37. Asbury Automotive Group had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.35 earnings per share. Asbury Automotive Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. will post 26.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Asbury Automotive Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Asbury Automotive Group by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.7% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $782,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Asbury Automotive Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 213,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,259,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC raised its stake in Asbury Automotive Group by 8.3% in the first quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Asbury Automotive Group in the first quarter worth about $201,000.

About Asbury Automotive Group

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.