CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CARG. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of CarGurus in a research report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CarGurus from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of CarGurus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.20.

CarGurus Price Performance

Shares of CARG traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.34. The stock had a trading volume of 1,811,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,693. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s fifty day moving average is $35.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.30. CarGurus has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $41.33.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $234.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.29 million. CarGurus had a net margin of 16.41% and a return on equity of 39.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that CarGurus will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CarGurus news, insider Jennifer Ladd Hanson sold 9,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $368,726.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 54,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,021,282.16. The trade was a 15.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $349,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 410,259 shares in the company, valued at $14,350,859.82. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,226 shares of company stock valued at $1,471,482. Company insiders own 16.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CarGurus

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 2.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 482,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,055,000 after acquiring an additional 10,787 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in CarGurus by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 12,423 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in CarGurus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,774,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in CarGurus by 83.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 52.6% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 173,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,053,000 after buying an additional 59,797 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CarGurus Company Profile

CarGurus, Inc operates an online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. The company provides an online automotive marketplace where customers can search for new and used car listings from its dealers and sell their car to dealers and other consumers; and paid listings subscriptions for enhanced access to its marketplace that connects dealers to a large audience of informed and engaged consumers.