Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) Declares Dividend Increase – $1.15 Per Share

Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) declared a Variable dividend on Wednesday, November 6th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.15 per share by the information services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Autohome’s previous Variable dividend of $0.57.

Autohome has increased its dividend payment by an average of 31.0% per year over the last three years.

Autohome Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATHM traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $27.93. The company had a trading volume of 32,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 473,151. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.46. Autohome has a one year low of $21.89 and a one year high of $34.70.

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The information services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Autohome had a net margin of 25.81% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The firm had revenue of $252.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.99 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Autohome will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ATHM shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Autohome to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Benchmark downgraded Autohome from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down from $31.00) on shares of Autohome in a research note on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Autohome from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, CLSA downgraded shares of Autohome from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.