Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Short Interest Up 9.8% in October

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the September 30th total of 1,740,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 533,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Autohome by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,212 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Autohome by 106.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 683,144 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,284,000 after acquiring an additional 351,789 shares during the period. Oldfield Partners LLP grew its stake in Autohome by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oldfield Partners LLP now owns 242,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,901,000 after acquiring an additional 5,100 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Autohome by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 93,973 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,065,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Autohome in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $219,000. 63.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Autohome Price Performance

Shares of ATHM opened at $29.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.28. Autohome has a 1-year low of $21.89 and a 1-year high of $34.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 0.16.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The information services provider reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $4.12. Autohome had a net margin of 25.81% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Autohome will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Autohome declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 4th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATHM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Autohome to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down from $31.00) on shares of Autohome in a report on Friday, July 19th. Benchmark cut shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, CLSA cut shares of Autohome from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Autohome has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

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.