CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $25.77.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on CarGurus from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of CarGurus in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th.

CarGurus Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ CARG opened at $23.93 on Friday. CarGurus has a 1-year low of $16.70 and a 1-year high of $24.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.46, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.57.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. CarGurus had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.04%. The firm had revenue of $223.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that CarGurus will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CarGurus news, CMO Dafna Sarnoff sold 4,301 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.04, for a total value of $99,095.04. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 163,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,773,905.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Samuel Zales sold 17,668 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $436,929.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 548,845 shares in the company, valued at $13,572,936.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Dafna Sarnoff sold 4,301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.04, for a total transaction of $99,095.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 163,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,773,905.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,461 shares of company stock worth $2,960,272 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CarGurus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CARG. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in CarGurus by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,705,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619,076 shares in the last quarter. Prevatt Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,160,000. Inflection Point Investments LLP bought a new position in CarGurus in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,154,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,042,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CarGurus by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,993,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,164,000 after buying an additional 336,245 shares in the last quarter. 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.