Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM)

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 36,378 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,085 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Autohome were worth $979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Autohome by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,475,258 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,233,000 after acquiring an additional 130,983 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Autohome during the 4th quarter worth approximately $948,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Autohome by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 337,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,764,000 after purchasing an additional 86,754 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Autohome by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 541,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,063,000 after purchasing an additional 17,706 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Autohome during the fourth quarter worth $269,000. 63.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Autohome from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. StockNews.com cut Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Autohome to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

Autohome Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of ATHM stock opened at $25.88 on Monday. Autohome Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.89 and a twelve month high of $34.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 0.16.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The information services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $244.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.26 million. Autohome had a net margin of 23.02% and a return on equity of 7.79%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Autohome Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Autohome Company Profile

Autohome Inc operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in the People’s Republic of China. The company delivers interactive content and tools to automobile consumers through its three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn on PCs, mobile devices, mobile applications, and mini apps.