Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Short Interest Down 27.8% in March

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Autohome

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Autohome in the 3rd quarter worth $228,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Autohome by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 8,564 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,841 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Autohome during the 4th quarter valued at about $231,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Autohome by 37.4% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of Autohome by 1,135.5% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 9,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.08% of the company’s stock.

Autohome Trading Up 0.2 %

ATHM traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $27.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 190,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,761. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03 and a beta of 0.20. Autohome has a fifty-two week low of $21.89 and a fifty-two week high of $34.70.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $244.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.26 million. Autohome had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 23.02%. Research analysts expect that Autohome will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.