Short Interest in Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Decreases By 27.8%

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a drop of 27.8% from the February 28th total of 2,340,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 541,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATHM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Autohome to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Autohome from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Autohome currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Autohome Stock Up 1.4 %

Autohome stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $28.12. The company had a trading volume of 268,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,895. Autohome has a 1 year low of $21.89 and a 1 year high of $34.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.92 and a 200 day moving average of $28.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.20.

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

Institutional Trading of Autohome

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATHM. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Autohome during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Autohome by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 8,564 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Autohome during the 4th quarter worth $231,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Autohome by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in Autohome by 1,135.5% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 9,073 shares during the period. 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.