Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Short Interest Down 10.1% in December

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, a drop of 10.1% from the November 30th total of 1,890,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 520,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Autohome Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ATHM traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.95. The stock had a trading volume of 675,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 484,279. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.39. Autohome has a one year low of $21.89 and a one year high of $34.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.20.

Autohome Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a yield of 5.8%. This is an increase from Autohome’s previous Variable dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Autohome’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Autohome announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 4th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATHM has been the topic of a number of research reports. CLSA downgraded shares of Autohome from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Autohome to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Autohome to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Autohome has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

Institutional Trading of Autohome

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in Autohome by 93.9% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 2,614 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Autohome during the third quarter valued at about $219,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Autohome in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Autohome by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Autohome during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.