Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.06, Yahoo Finance reports. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Sonic Automotive had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share.

Sonic Automotive Price Performance

Sonic Automotive stock traded down $1.93 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $60.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 349,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,753. Sonic Automotive has a 12 month low of $39.02 and a 12 month high of $64.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.12.

Sonic Automotive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Sonic Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Sonic Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Sonic Automotive from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday. TheStreet raised shares of Sonic Automotive from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sonic Automotive from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Sonic Automotive Company Profile

Sonic Automotive, Inc operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in three segments, Franchised Dealerships, EchoPark, and Powersports. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and replacement parts; provision of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repair, and paint and collision repair services; and arrangement of extended warranties, service contracts, financing, insurance, and other aftermarket products for its guests.