Analysts Set Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Price Target at $28.00

Shares of Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ATHM shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Autohome to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Autohome to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. CLSA lowered Autohome from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Autohome Stock Performance

Shares of ATHM stock opened at $26.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.53. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 0.20. Autohome has a 1 year low of $21.89 and a 1 year high of $34.70.

Autohome declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 4th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Autohome Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 5.8%. This is a positive change from Autohome’s previous Variable dividend of $0.57. Autohome’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autohome

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATHM. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Autohome in the second quarter valued at about $22,501,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Autohome by 14.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,440,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $121,859,000 after purchasing an additional 568,474 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Autohome by 106.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 683,144 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,284,000 after purchasing an additional 351,789 shares during the period. M&G PLC lifted its position in Autohome by 9.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 3,384,865 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $111,701,000 after purchasing an additional 296,107 shares during the period. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its position in Autohome by 10.7% in the second quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 2,816,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $77,326,000 after purchasing an additional 272,092 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

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.