Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Cars.com Inc. $CARS

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 136,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CARS. CWM LLC increased its stake in Cars.com by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 2,305 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cars.com by 27.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Cars.com by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Cars.com by 436.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com in the 2nd quarter valued at about $115,000. 89.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cars.com news, CFO Sonia Jain sold 11,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.45, for a total transaction of $153,330.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 243,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,276,984.90. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 27,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total value of $329,116.74. Following the sale, the insider owned 71,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,369.09. This trade represents a 27.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 2.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Cars.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cars.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cars.com from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $13.50 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cars.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.90.

Cars.com Trading Up 0.3%

Cars.com stock opened at $11.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Cars.com Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.56 and a 12 month high of $18.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.18. The stock has a market cap of $681.18 million, a P/E ratio of 24.76 and a beta of 1.46.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.02). Cars.com had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The firm had revenue of $181.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cars.com Inc. will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cars.com Profile

Cars.com operates as a leading online automotive marketplace in the United States, connecting car shoppers with new and used vehicle listings from dealerships and private sellers. The platform enables consumers to research makes and models, compare prices, read expert and user reviews, and access tools such as TrueCost to estimate ownership expenses over time. Through its website and mobile applications, Cars.com aims to simplify the car-buying process by aggregating detailed vehicle data, payment calculators, and dealership ratings into a single user-friendly experience.

On the dealer side, Cars.com provides a suite of marketing and lead-generation services designed to help automotive retailers reach potential buyers and manage their online presence.