Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 657 Shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its position in shares of Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:SAH – Get Rating) by 10.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,642 shares of the company’s stock after selling 657 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Sonic Automotive were worth $244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sonic Automotive by 4.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Sonic Automotive by 5.2% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in Sonic Automotive by 1.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 19,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Sonic Automotive by 1.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 33,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delphia USA Inc. grew its stake in Sonic Automotive by 9.0% in the first quarter. Delphia USA Inc. now owns 5,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. 52.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Sonic Automotive from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Sonic Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on Sonic Automotive from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Sonic Automotive Stock Performance

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NYSE:SAH opened at $55.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89 and a beta of 1.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Sonic Automotive, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.17 and a 1-year high of $62.26.

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. Sonic Automotive had a return on equity of 33.55% and a net margin of 0.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Sonic Automotive, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonic Automotive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Sonic Automotive’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

About Sonic Automotive

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Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as a automotive retailer. Its services include sales of both new and used cars and light trucks, sales of replacement parts and performance of vehicle maintenance, warranty, paint and repair services and arrangement of extended service contracts, financing, insurance, vehicle protection products and other aftermarket products for automotive customers.