Clint Coghill, Coghill Capital Management Continue Selling Autobytel Shares

Clint Coghill, the manager of Coghill Capital Management, has continued unloading Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ:ABTL) shares. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund has revealed the sale of 21,600 shares in one transaction at a price of $11.25. As a result, Coghill Capital is left with 965,858 shares.

Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates is not so bullish about this stock either. According to the fund’s latest 13F report, Royce has liquidated the position by selling the 215 thousand shares it previously owned. Another fund that has reduced their possession of Autobytel shares to zero is Platinum Management, run by Mark A. Nordlicht. The fund previously held 80,000 shares. Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies are actually bullish on this stock. Simons has increased the fund’s position by 38%, according to the latest 13F reporter, and Renaissance Technologies now owns approximately 328 thousand shares valued at $2.3 million.

Autobytel provides automotive marketing services in the United States. Since the start of 2013, the stock price has increased by 221%, with shares currently trading at $12.46. The company has a market cap of $111 million and a trailing Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 48.93. The stock has a beta of 1.82 and does not pay a dividend.

In their quarterly financial report filed with the SEC, Autobytel has reported for the third quarter of 2013 revenues of $21.6 million, a 24% year-over-year increase. The company also reported Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $0.13. Jeffrey H. Coats, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

We are continuing to execute on our strategic initiatives, including generating high sales conversion rates for our customers from the leads we deliver to them. Our strong revenue for the third quarter, combined with appropriate cost management, allowed Autobytel to post a significant improvement in our financial results compared with last year.

For the current quarter analysts expect the company to register only $19.4 million in revenues and EPS of $0.08.

Disclosure: none

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